A Different Story
by rythmteck
Summary: The same old story all over again. Boy meets girl. Boy kidnaps girl. Girl vows revenge. Love complications the situation from both ends.
1. Introduction

Introduction:

Three years ago I wrote my first fanfiction story ever. And I did it in a manner of months. Since then, I've been reluctant to go back and make changes. But with this summer's release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, I _knew_ there were changes that needed to be made to Inconvenient. The first time around, the plot was basically to hook up two characters – one borrowed, one OC – and do it while maintaining control of character, setting, pace, and rollicking high seas fun, etc. And I did that.

This time around, I'm working in a bit more plot. I have a better grasp of character and the new insights into Jack's character that were in PotC2 have inspired me.

So I invite all of you to go along and revisit this story with me. You don't need to read the original first.

Thanks for going with me on this,

Sarah, aka rythmteck


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything at all relating to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (other than two bags of M&Ms, one 2-disc collector's edition of PotC:CotBP, the soundtracks to CotBP and DMC, and one CotPB poster). I'm not affiliated with Disney, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp, etc. I'm a poor college student who has no money for the foreseeable future and threats should be enough to make me knock all this off.

Thank you for your time.

* * *

"Jack."

Jack Sparrow was happily oblivious to the fact that someone stood in the doorway of his cabin. The heat of the sun streaming in the large bay windows held him in golden chains. The same amber rays that warmed his skin through his fraying shirt shot through the bottle in his left hand. At one time he'd played with idea of docking in Tortuga or a similarly friendly port for a week or so to tend to some minor repairs – both nautical and sartorial – but his newly regained freedom was still too precious to surrender to anything that wouldn't amount to more than a few clean shirts.

"Capt'n?"

Jack lazily scratched his chest as he lifted the bottle and took another swig of rum. _Idle hands and the devil and all that…_ he thought rather fuzzily as warmth of a different kind rolled through his body. There were worse ways to spend a day as his most recent sojourn in prison proved.

"A-hem!"

Jack spun around, weaving a bit on his feet as his eyes landed on his first mate. "Gibbs." It was an identification, as if he had to literally remind himself of his surroundings. "What are you doing just standing there? Join me in toasting this superb example of superior sailing conditions." The bottle rose again.

"Ordinarily I would, Capt'n, make no mistake," Gibbs said from his place at the door. "However, Moisesreports that a ship has been seen from the crow's nest and the lads are getting' a mite antsy. They're thinkin' that a bit of coin would be a fine thing to have in their pockets when next we make port."

"And you agree." The statement was a soft purr of sound that just barely hid a warning. Jack didn't take kindly to any sort of demands from his crew. Always a captain in name, it'd been too many years since he'd been a captain in truth and he wasn't going to repeat the kind of mistakes that had once led to his losing the _Black Pearl._ One man had already been "persuaded" to jump ship after testing his theory that Jack had lost his edge.

Gibbs shuffled his feet uneasily as Jack's mood came through loud and clear. The captain had been touchy as of late, being irritable, driven, and drunkenly pensive by turns. A smart man tested the winds and adjusted his course to sail with them. "Moises says the ship is a fleut, an easy enough mark. Since we've no other plans…?" When Jack didn't contradict that belief, Gibbs hurried on, "And no stockpile neither, considering what happened to…" He took the time to cross himself and spit on the deck despite the increasingly sour look on Jack's face – though that might have had less to do with the reminder of lost wealth and more to do with the glob of spittle now gracing the deck. "Well, cursed treasure is more trouble than it's worth, Jack. And we've neither heading nor harbor in mind. After a week of trolling calm seas and mending sails, the crew is in need of action before they drink every last drop of rum out of boredom."

"Hmm, the rum…you may have a point." Jack scratched the back of his neck as he circled around the cabin to a glass-fronted cabinet. "A fleut?" he inquired as he pulled several rolls of parchment out to lie on the table. "You _are_ aware that Dutch ships usually have a hold full of grain?"

Gibbs watched as Jack used the rum bottle and his compass to hold down one side of the map while he pinned the other down with a stoppered bottle of ink and a convenient piece of scrimshaw. "Right you are, Capt'n, but this particular fleut is flying a Union Jack."

"Ahh, resourceful Colonials, much better. Let's see…we're here…the wind is…and the sails…so about eight knots…and they're…?"

"About three leagues to the south-east, Capt'n," Gibbs supplied when Jack looked at him expectantly. "With the wind coming from the nor-east –"

"We'll be able to intercept them without much fuss," Jack finished as he studied his charts. He absently ran one rough finger along the course they'd need to take. "Very well." With a snap he rolled the maps back up and put them away. "Tell the crew to prepare for a skirmish."

* * *

"Captain, what does that look like to you?" Winn Morgan handed the spyglass to the man who had just come to her side. She waited patiently for a reaction from the man, and when he let out a stream of curses that turned the air blue, she merely blinked. "I take it that you agree we're being followed by a pirate ship?" Winn asked with imperturbable calm. Of course, she'd noticed the ship some ten minutes ago. After watching for a moment to make sure they weren't simply going to pass each other she'd clambered up onto the quarter galleywith a telescope to examine the other craft. About the same time she'd done that the call had come from below that they were being approached by a ship that wasn't bothering to fly any colors.

The captain didn't appreciate her cool head. He didn't necessarily appreciate carrying female passengers, much less ones that didn't have the good sense to stay out from underfoot. "Miss Morgan, this is no time for wit. We need to prepare for bat –"

"I agree. We do need to prepare. Reef the sails and drop anchor."

"What! We still have a chance to outrun them. The _Kestrel_ is a fast ship, Miss. It is unlikely that we would be caught if we –" The man paused as the temperature of his companion's gaze turned from cool to arctic.

"No, Captain, it is _very_ likely that we would be caught. If you haven't noticed from the ship's description, that is the _Black Pearl_, the fastest ship in these waters. We cannot outrun her, and it's unlikely that we would come out unscathed in a sea battle. I prefer not to irritate the _Pearl's_ captain. If it is possible to escape damage to ship and crew, we should pursue that avenue. The goods we're carrying, though expensive, are easily replaceable. Follow my orders please."

"The contents of the hold are not my first priority," the captain said heatedly, "as well you know. Your grandfather will have my head if something happens to you, and claiming that you gave me orders will do me as little good as attempting to reason with pirates will do you."

Winn listened to all this and weighed the words. "Captain Sparrow isn't known for being bloodthirsty," she said at last. "Nor for being cruel. There is no Jolly Roger flying, so they don't exactly intent to murder us all where we stand. I believe it's in our best interest to appear unremarkable and accept the leniency that is being offered. Follow my orders, Captain Riley." Winn's tone was firm as she stared down a man she had known since late childhood.

Riley's back stiffened as he said against his better judgment, "Yes, ma'am. Now, if you'll take some advice from me and change your clothing so you look a little less… noteworthy."

Winn looked down at the toes of her boots which were left bare by the hem of her full breeches. Her fingers wriggled self-consciously in their fingerless gloves. "Hmm…I suppose trousers and canvas vests _are_ unusual apparel for a proper young woman, aren't they?"

"You were the one that suggested we appear unremarkable."

"I hate it when you do that," Winn muttered under her breath.

"Do what?"

"Use my own arguments against me. I hate it almost as much as I hate wet skirts," she grumbled as she collapsed her telescope and stomped off towards her cabin.

* * *

"Captain!"

Jack winced and covered his ear as he made a mental note to never sneak up on Gibbs again. "What?" he growled as he reached into the pocket of his jacket for his telescope.

"The _Kestrel_ is reefing sails and preparing to drop anchor, sir."

"The who?" Jack brought his spyglass to his eye. "Oh. The ship. Very good. Terrible waste of gun powder, having to fire on merchant vessels. Not to mention messy for all involved and not so good for the cargo."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "The entire point was to let the lads work off a bit of steam, Jack."

Jack pulled his head back and looked at his first mate. "I thought the point was to provide them with a bit of glitter to calm their greedy souls…no matter." He returned his attention to the ship they were quickly approaching. "Perhaps we'll get lucky and they'll stage a bit of a rebellion once we're boarding."

"Aye…" The old seaman nipped a drink from his flask. "I'll tell the men to be on guard."

"You do that."

* * *

The ship had been taken without a fight. Despite Gibbs' hopes, the crew of the _Kestrel_ hadn't resisted the pirate boarding party. The ship's crew had easily been gathered on deck, not a weapon in sight as they apparently waited for the pirates to board. Jack had watched from the deck of the _Black Pearl_ as his men corralled the prisoners – did they count as prisoners if there hadn't been a fight? – and grouped them near the mainmast. The _Kestrel's_ captain and first mate were being held on the stern near the helm. Those two men had been quite reluctant to go even that far from the rest of the crew. Jack watched them, certain there was something going on, something that would explain this show of docility. It wasn't uncommon for merchant crew to surrender in an attempt to avoid torture and death, but this crew seemed to be going out of their way to make the pirates' work easier.

Jack crossed over to the merchant ship and walked up to the helm. "Search the holds." As most of his men scattered to search below deck or to investigate the alarming screams coming from the coop at the sternof the ship, _he_ watched the captain. The man was nervous, though he hid it rather well. What finally gave him away was his eyes as they darted to and away from a tight bundle of five men grouped near the mast. From the elevation of the deck, Jack could see a sixth person inside the circle.

"Captain, there's noffin' but foodstuffs and spirits in the hold," one disappointed crewman called out, distracting Jack from his discovery.

"One would think you'd be pleased, considering the way you've been going through the rum," Jack muttered before calling back, "Did you _want_ to spend the money we don't have on food we wouldn't need if we simply take what isn't ours while what we do have is the time?" Silence. "For the love of… Transfer the food to our ship, then search the cabins for your bloody loot." Leaving his crewman to forage, Jack climbed down to the main deck and cut a path through the _Kestrel's_crew towards that protective huddle.

Gold and silver the ship might have not, but Jack was certain he'd found his treasure.

* * *

_Drat, drat, drat._ Winn backed up as far as she could as she saw the captain of the _Black Pearl_ headed her way. "Let me out. Hurry," she urged, tapping the elbows of two of the men. As they were men hired by Riley and not her grandfather, their loyalty wasn't necessarily to her; they shifted uneasily on their feet – they knew a command when they heard one – but stayed planted. "I don't care what Captain Riley's orders were," she growled impatiently. "Whatever they were, they were to keep me away from Sparrow, and he's coming this way. Which means I should be on…" Winn ducked and bobbed her head, trying to see around her guards. "…on _my_ way as well." Not being a tall woman, she wasn't able to see much. "Oh for goodness sake."

Just as she was about to resort to shoving at hips and stomping on feet, two of the men leaned far enough away from each other for her to slip through the protective ring. Moving slowly – she still had to contend with the rest of the crew – she left her safe harbor and circled around the mast, putting it between herself and the pirate searching for her.

Jack's gold teeth flashed as he saw two of his targets sway away from each other before once again closing ranks. Whatever treasure they'd been holding was being held no longer. He had to admit that the men had their wits about them; they didn't so much as blink as he paused and started searching the heads around him. In fact, if they'd been part of his crew, they would have been deserving of an additional ration of rum this evening. Each man was careful to move with the motion of the ship so that the passage of one short individual was near impossible to notice. Even his prey would deserve a kind word because she – Jack assumed it was a she, and a she with a good head on her shoulders – was just as adept at using the ship's natural motion to conceal her passage as her companions were. Unfortunately for her, Jack was well accustomed to many methods of sneaking away unnoticed.

It would be faster to go to her, but ever so much more fun to allow her to come to him. Using one bejeweled hand Jack motioned two of his crew to make their way towards his fleeing target from behind while he circled around the other way.

Winn glanced over her shoulder as she edged around the mast. She could see her people move as someone came her direction. A silently uttered curse was all she allowed herself when she really wanted to close her eyes and hit something.

_At least he's behind me – _

The soft song of metal ringing on metal made her freeze. _I don't suppose he'd go away if I ignored him,_ Winn thought for a desperate moment before turning around to face the very person she'd been working so hard to avoid. Her temper flared when she noticed the sword held in one indolent hand and the spark of amusement in his eyes, but she tramped it down.

_At least she's not screaming,_ Jack thought as he returned her silent regard. The lass barely came up to his chin and she was dressed in a dull brown that seemed specially chosen to emphasize her tanned skin and to help her fade into the woodwork. And were those…she had freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose. The only part of her that hinted at life were the blue eyes behind brass-rimmed spectacles and the reddish tint the sun brought out of her dark hair. There was nothing about her to indicate that she was anything more than perhaps the daughter of the captain or one of the hands…nothing but the way she stood with her chin proudly raised and the way her eyes met his without giving away anything but a touch of impatience.

"Captain Jack Sparrow at your service, luv," he said to break the silence, one hand fluttering about the brim of his hat as if to indicate a measure of respect.

"At _my_ service. How unexpected." Winn didn't necessarily trust all this good humor. "I don't suppose you'd consider getting out of my way then."

"Have you somewhere you need to be?" Jack shifted his weight at the same time she did, blocking her path.

"Does it matter if you're at my service?"

"Good point." Jack flashed his golden teeth in a smile and Winn couldn't help but look. He smiled wider to give her a better view. "Like what you see?"

"Hardly." She tore her gaze away from his mouth and narrowed her eyes at him. "I was wondering if you bite." Winn stepped back as Jack leaned towards her, only to run into two men who were blocking her path. She gave them a slow perusal to confirm they were strangers, then hot breath on the side of her neck stole her attention again. Facing forward, she caught the scents of sun and salt, unwashed man, rum…and horehound candy?

"Ahh, now that I have your attention again, I can reassure you that I rarely bite…and only when asked." Jack was noticing a few things of his own as he stood next to his new companion. A strand of hair had come loose of the knot at her neck and was fluttering against his face. Herbal scents tingled in his nose – he'd hidden in enough wardrobes to recognize some of the more common herbs used to keep pests away from clothing but there was one that he couldn't identify that seemed to come from her skin. He imagined that she used it in her bathwater…or perhaps in a lotion she used after her bath to keep her skin soft after a long day ofbeing out on the water and under the sun…

"Captain?" Winn asked breathlessly as she attempted to put some space between them. She wasn't used to male attention aside from her brothers, and she _certainly_ wasn't used to being so close to a strange man. His nearness was driving her irritation right out of her head, and without that protection… "Captain!" There, her voice had a bit more bite in it this time.

"That's exactly how I like to be addressed," Jack replied absently as he slowly pulled away. "You haven't told me how _you_ like to be addressed."

Winn fought the urge to press her hands to her hot cheeks. "It doesn't matter. You won't be here long enough to use my name. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you'd oversee the removal of your men from my ship."

"_Your_ ship?" Jack raised an eyebrow before giving her a good once-over from head to foot, his eyes lingering in places that made Winn wish she had filched a sharp knife while she'd been trying to hide.

"No one who ever saw that leer on your face would ever believe you went around rescuing drowning ladies and defeating shiploads of cursed pirates before making miraculous escapes from the King's justice." Moving deliberately, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's that, luv?" Jack looked up from his perusal as her words started to make sense. Just how did this sharp-tongued siren – _No, bad word choice. Sirens are sexy._ Jack eyed the brown sack she was wearing with disfavor. _How __does she know about that debacle with the Swann wench?_ "Who are you?" he asked bluntly as he raised the point of his sword to hover around her midriff. It was clear that he didn't know nearly enough about this female who knew a bit too much about him.

"Lecherous cad," Winn muttered under her breath. She'd caught the second probing look he'd sent towards her hips and didn't appreciate the way he was gripping his weapon when she had nowhere to run.

"Not the answer I was looking for, luv. How did you know about –"

"Are there any of your exploits that don't eventually get retold over a round of ale? And that's _not_ what I meant," she snapped as his eyes lit at the use of the word _exploit_. "Everyone knows that Jack Sparrow escaped the gallows last summer to return to his ship, the _Black Pearl,_ and what happened before that – likely exaggerated to undeserved proportions – has also made its rounds. Really Captain, is that sword absolutely necessary?"

"Yes, it is." Jack noticed that the wench was letting irritation win out over caution. Whatever else she was, she had more bravery than smarts. "While what you say makes sense, I'm more concerned with how you got your information than with what information you have."

"Easy, I read smoke signals. Especially those fueled by rum." While her face was solemn, her eyes gently mocked him from behind her spectacles. When she saw that he was not amused, she muttered something that sounded very much like, _"so much for a sense of humor,"_ then said, "Look, if you don't let us go soon we'll be late getting to port, and then there will be all hell to pay."

"Unfortunate. Where did you get your information from?"

"Someone who was there at the time. Are we done now?"

Jack ignored the question. There was only one other person who'd been on that island who would know the means of their escape and he was fuming under his own breath, something that sounded distinctly like, _"yes, tell us all why you burned the gods-blest rum. Why don't you tell the entire bloody **world** while you're at it? There's no living with some people."_

This went on for some time while the girl tried to stifle her growing mirth. Unluckily, she wasn't too successful at it, for she managed to draw his attention to her once again. Winn just asked, "_Now_ do you understand why I wouldn't want to be late, Captain?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "It takes but four days to reach Port Royal from here –"

"Then perhaps _you're_ the one that shouldn't be lingering. It isn't uncommon for the navy to run patrols this way. Just think of how you'd feel if you were captured again because you were preoccupied with someone of such little import. I know I'd feel like the world's biggest –"

"I think we'll be standing here for a while yet, luv; you still haven't answered all my questions."_ Persons of little import don't haul the royal navy out as a threat._ Jack was more determined than ever to get some information out of this girl.

Her eyes went flat as she realized that he was as determined to avoid distraction as she was to avoid giving information. "I suppose that means that you aren't going to be putting that _thing_ away any time soon, are you?" Her eyes threw a distasteful glance at the unsheathed blade that hadn't lowered and inch since she'd revealed her connection to their mutual acquaintance.

"I suppose it doesn't as it seems to be the only thing making you talk. So you can stop asking. What's your name?"

Winn sighed and once again looked around her, trying to locate some avenue of escape. "I was hoping you had forgotten about that."

"I haven't. Don't make me ask again, savvy?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you're bossy?"

"I'm a pirate captain."

_Being a pirate has nothing to do with it. **All** captains are arrogant. _With a huff of annoyance she said, "Winn."

"Winn…" Jack looked her over again, this time with an expression of disbelief. "That hardly sounds like a proper name."

"Proper enough."

"In your opinion, luv. Not in mine."

"Whatever happened to 'at your service'?" When Jack didn't reply or return the banter she sighed and said with more than a little animosity, "Winifred. Regrettably, most fail to understand that I have never liked that name, so they insist on calling me by it. _You_call me that and you'll regret it."

Jack came a step closer, forcing her to raise her head in order to maintain eye contact. Her eyes became wary behind her spectacles, as with a grin Jack purred, "What makes you think I would regret it, _Winifred?_" His tone implied he was speaking about more than just saying her name.

Her eyes narrowed, "Elizabeth burned your rum to save both your lives, _Captain_." At this reminder, Jack's eyes also narrowed. "What I would do would be ever so much more creative. I have three older brothers – I know all about pulling pranks and about how to defend myself." To prove her statement, Winn reached for Jack's wrist and twisted it as she swung under his arm. As his sword dropped she caught it. Within seconds she was surrounded by more unsheathed swords than she could count and was quickly disarmed in turn before being forcibly spun around to face the man she'd just made a fool of in front of his crew.

_Stupid,_ she yelled at herself. **_Stupid._**_ This is going to be bad. _

* * *

_What kind of woman would be caught dead in sea-boots?_ Jack wondered as he took his time straightening his coat and hat. His clothing wasn't all that had been upset by that little sneak attack; the hem of Winn's dress was snagged on the brim of one of her boots. And even more bewildering was the question, "What kind of woman attacks an armed pirate?" _Although when all is said and done, a bruised ego is slightly better than a slap in the face,_ he thought with a slight grimace.

"That was fair foolish, missy." Jack looked up to see that though most of crew had come to his aid, one man had gone a step farther. Winn stood deathly still as one Joshua White held a knife to her throat, ready to slit it at Jack's earliest convenience.

While her face was pale, Winn's eyes were as steady as ever as she watched the pirate rise to his full height. Almost daring him to give the order to kill her, she said, "If you'd been a bit quicker, you probably wouldn't have been disarmed. Still, I suppose you deserve credit for recognizing my intent at the last moment. If you hadn't moved with me, you he would have hit the deck."

Rolling his eyes, the _Pearl's_ captain responded, "Luv, didn't anyone ever teach you to hold your tongue when your life is being threatened? Or are you just too naïve to believe that I might have you killed for that little stunt?" Jack had no intention of actually harming the girl, he just wanted to see what was going on behind those glasses which were still perched upon her nose, albeit precariously.

"That would be a first for you, from all I've heard. And the exploits of pirates are usually embellished, not understated. Besides, I was taught that pirates are like dogs in some aspects –" The knife at her throat darted in to raise a welt across her windpipe at the perceived insult. She gasped, as if astonished that someone would dare harm her. Then, before Jack could lift hand or voice to rebuke White, she threw her head back, jammed an elbow into her captor's diaphragm, and brought a booted foot crashing down on White's instep. Jack winced in silent pity at the crack of broken bones that followed the young pirate to the deck as he fell, trying to breathe through what appeared to be a broken nose and a thorough winding._ Pity he wasn't a few inches taller – he could have avoided getting his nose smashed. _

Sparrow made a mental note to talk to the man later as he accepted his sword from a silent and grim Gibbs. Winn was staring down at White, her chest rising and falling rapidly and her hands fisted and unfisted in a silent display of tension. When she was seized from behind by a burly pair of arms and once again swung around to face Jack, he saw that she'd barely noticed her renewed captivity. He was able to recognize total control in someone on the edge of violence. It probably wouldn't take much to set her off again, the consequences be buggered. But Jack just happened to know a good cure.

He signaled the man to let Winn go before purposely moving into her line of sight. He gave the young woman before him a moment to focus on him before asking, "What was it you were saying?"

Surprise flickered in Winn's eyes and she just barely kept herself from looking around nervously. Her temper was never particularly easy to control but she was usually able to keep herself from immediately repeating potentially life-threatening mistakes. And how was she treated for her lack of judgment? Was there to be no reprimand for striking at the captain and maiming a member of his crew? Her eyes followed Jack's actions as he slid his blade into its sheath. His unexpected kindness loosened her tongue. As she rubbed the sting on her throat, she murmured, "Umm . . . I was saying that pirates, like dogs, can smell fear. Although I don't entirely believe Grandfather when it comes to that…" She trailed off.

Winn was off balance and unsure of what to expect. The few pirates she knew would have backhanded any man – much less a woman – for offenses smaller than the ones she'd given this one. True, they tended to have a fairly strange moral code when it came to females, but this man's tolerance was almost unheard of. Even Grandfather would be bellowing to wake the dead by this point.

Watching him through cautious eyes, she brought her hand away from her neck to check for blood. Sure enough, there was a faint smear of red on the skin of her palm.

So caught up in her thoughts was she that she missed the look in the captain's eyes as he observed her. Not that seeing it would have helped her much; Captain Sparrow was a man used to keeping his thoughts to himself, as much as it might have seemed otherwise. At this particular point in time, he was wondering just what his next move was going to be. What he wanted to do was not necessarily something that was smart to do. But then again, when had he let intelligence get in the way of what he wanted? _Wait…that doesn't sound right… _

Winn, still studying her palm as if it could tell her what to do next, took an alarmed step back when the pirate captain reached for her chin. Ruefully she thought, _So much for not showing fear._

"Hold still, will ye, Winnie? Unless you're afraid of ole' Jack." Winn's eyes darted up from Jack's outstretched hand to his face. The leer he had pasted on was almost comical; it was the same one that the old salts on her Grandfather's estate wore when she stopped to talk to them. She unconsciously relaxed slightly at the familiarity of the expression.

"I don't believe I like the name 'Winnie' anymore than I like Winifred." _And I'm cautious with good reason. _Once again Jack advanced on her, although this time she resolutely held her ground…and her breath. The heat rolling off his body made her feel strange. But when the man's hands started to circle her neck, she let her breath go so she could continue to distract him. The way his hands felt on her skin had nothing to do with it. She'd rather keep him from wondering if twisting her neck would be worth the effort or not. "If you could restrain yourself from using such unsuitable nicknames, I would be grateful, Captain."

"Now there's a delightful image." Jack took his time. The wound was insignificant and already starting to close up. It looked as if someone had taken a quill and some red ink with the intent of making his mark all over… _No. Bad idea. Bad. Women are trouble…_ That argument didn't have much impact on the pirate inside Jack.

"We'll have to get that cleaned up when we return to the _Pearl._"

At this Winn did react. She reached up and pushed his hand away, fixing her deadliest glare upon the grinning brigand in front of her. "I don't believe that _we_ are going to do any such thing, Captain," Winn stated with as much dignity and authority as she could muster. "_We_ have adequate supplies on the _Kestrel_ to tend to a scratch. _You_ are going to be returning to your ship without me, I'm afraid."

Jack took another step towards Winn, who was starting to resemble a cornered animal as she backed away as far as she could. "It's me that should be apologizing, luv, for I really must insist that you accompany us." She eyed the hands that were fluttering aimlessly in the air while he spoke as if she thought he might be trying to cast some sort of spell on her. He paid that no mind as he continued, used to the strange looks some of his mannerisms garnered. "Just think how I would feel if a wound you received from the hands of my crew turned putrid. I'd never forgive myself." Winn gave an unladylike snort of disbelief. "You wouldn't want me to feel guilty 'til the end of my days, would you Winnie?" At this he reached out and grabbed her arm above the elbow.

Winn automatically tried to jerk her arm away but Sparrow didn't give an inch. If anything, his grip tightened. She went along with the man when he started cutting a path through his men towards the stairs having accepted that trying to free herself from _this_ grip would win humiliation instead of freedom. But cooperation did not equal defeat.

"I hardly believe that a scratch can make you feel what years of piracy, thievery, and deception have not," she replied in an icy voice as Captain Sparrow "escorted" her up the stairs to the quarter deck. He kept her so close that her shoulder brushed against his arm with every step.

"You don't believe in much, do you, luv?"

Jack let her loose once they were off the stairs and Winn took the opportunity to put several steps between them. Once again his men where there to block her from reaching any sort of safety – this time the company of Captain Riley. She growled at them in frustration before whirling back on her opponent. "I _believe_ in staying on my ship."

"Staying on your ship isn't going to do you much good, lass. After all, a ship can't get far without its sails, now can it?"

"What?" Far from being defeated, Winn drew herself up and stabbed a finger in the general direction of his chest. "You can't just leave my men stranded in the middle of the ocean without any sails! You would be condemning them to a slow death. This isn't one of the more heavily traveled routes…with good reason."

"I'm not the one who chose speed over safety. If you knew that pirates regularly came this way, then perhaps you should have reminded someone in charge of that fact. Unless of course, you're serious when you say this is _'your'_ ship, in which case you have no one to blame but yourself." Over her inarticulate sounds of outrage, Jack continued, "Now, your men have sweeps with which they can make their merry way to Antigua. It will only take a few days or so of hard labor, and they've been left with enough provisions to last them that long if they're not greedy. Stop whimperin' and acquiesce gracefully, luv."

The look she gave him made him think she'd rather see him to the bottom of the ocean first. Still glaring, she said, "Fine, if you insist. However, I _will_ tell you that my grandfather will not be pleased when he hears of this. Remember that, should you ever have enough sense to rue this." With that last pronouncement, she allowed herself to be shown to the plank running over the thin strip of water that separated the _Kestrel_ and the _Pearl_.

Declining any assistance from Jack, she walked crossed the plank with all the dignity of a dethroned queen. Jack was just a beat behind her as she set foot onto the deck of the _Black Pearl_. Trying to hide his amusement, and not particularly caring as he failed, Jack once again took her arm in a firm grip and guided her to his cabin. Opening the doors, he waited for her to step inside. Understandably, she hesitated on the threshold once she realized that the room in front of her must be the captain's quarters. She turned to protest this latest offence, but Jack was a step ahead of her.

"Don't start thinking like that, lass." His voice was almost kind, but his smirk ruined the effect. "I just need somewhere to stow you until I've taken care of matters aboard your ship, savvy? This would be it, unless you truly prefer the brig. I must warn you though, there's a bit of a leak below decks that we still haven't been able to locate. Now, if you'd simply step inside and allow me to get on with my work, I'll be out of your hair." He looked at her meaningfully.

With the expression of the highly annoyed, Winn did as she was bidden. The doors closed behind her, and as she looked around the room in the dim light, she wondered what she was going to do now.

* * *


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** this is for the two of you who reviewed and the 67 that at least took a look at the first chapter even if you didn't read all or review. ;)

* * *

_Why did I mention anything about Grandfather? Why did I do anything to make him think I have powerful family? Though, I'm not too sure he took me seriously. _

Winn stood just inside the closed doors, her ears straining to hear any orders that might be given concerning her. Being closed up in an unfamiliar place with no easily obtainable weapons in sight made her feel vulnerable. Even overhearing a simple command that demanded she be left alone to wait on the captain's pleasure would be worth its scant reassurance.

There were no orders, but she did hear the soft sound of something rasping against the door. She looked down and picked up her skirts, searching for mice, but there were none in sight and the sound was coming from right before her. Assuming the doors had somehow been fastened – and not wanting to appear desperate or hysterical – Winn reached out and pushed tentatively at the door before her. It gave a little under her hand, but not so much that she was tempted to push harder.

_Well…no escape there._ She turned back around and examined her surroundings. All the light coming in the windows was indirect; the room itself seemed to be throwing off the light as if it truly were as lustrous as its namesake. The effect was startling given dark mahogany wood seemed to have been the material of choice when the builders had designed the interior. The cabinets, the shelves, the paneling, the large round table in the center of the room… It was all composed with an eye to detail and elegance – two things she wouldn't have necessarily expected, though there was no rule saying that vanity was an undesirable trait in a captain. The floor beneath her feet was bare of carpets. She'd seen some seamen try to cover their floors with the expensive weavings, but salt water was most unforgiving and the scent of damp wool unpleasant. It seemed as if Sparrowcould be practical even as he enjoyed his luxuries; he had a chair that resembled a throne and the bed was covered in jewel-bright fabrics that turned that corner into a most inviting den.

_Den of iniquity, perhaps, _she scolded herself The air was cool and Winn was almost tempted to cross the room and pull a blanket off the bed. _No. The less I have to do with the bed the better. I'm not planting any ideas that aren't already in his head._ What she knew of Sparrow told her that he was above taking unwilling women to his bed – though not exactly above plying hesitant women with large amounts of alcohol. But that was the problem, wasn't it? She didn't know him. He said he wasn't planning to join her in his quarters for nefarious reasons, but how could she trust him?

_I know myself though…and I know pirates. This room can't be as harmless as it looks._ After the disappointing haul they must have gotten from the _Kestrel_ – God help them if they touched the birds – Winn was relatively certain Sparrow would be holding her for ransom. Now there was a word that meant different things to different people. Having some way of protecting herself would settle her nerves and she didn't know a single captain that wouldn't keep extra weapons near at hand. It was all very well and good to carry a sword of some kind and a pistol, but the pistol at least was relatively useless after fired in the middle of battle and powder had a way of becoming damp and ineffectual in the tropical climate. It wasn't uncommon to have more than one pistol stowed safely away; indeed, she saw a rack of sorts around one support that seemed to have held flintlocks at some period.

_I knew I shouldn't have agreed to hide,_she told herself as she circled the room._ It only made me look suspiciously worthwhile, no matter how I dressed._ She examined an astrolabe that appeared be to be made of ivory that was hanging on the wall as if it were a piece of art. And she supposed it was. Unfortunate since it was probably very heavy and would have made an excellent weapon. The damage it'd do to Sparrow, though, wasn't worth the damage Sparrow would do to it.

_Keep looking. There will be something. You just have to find it. _

* * *

On the other side of the door Jack spent a moment surveying his handiwork on the doors to his cabin. A piece of nearby rope and a few experienced twists were enough to ensure that his reluctant guest would be going nowhere in the near future. Past that immediacy, he had not yet planned. 

Despite the complaints from his crew, the _Black Pearl_ had had a lucrative run in the past few months. Admittedly, pirates weren't known for brilliancy at handing money, but a ransom would be more for appearance's sake than to sate any real need. Another option would be to deliver her to Port Royal himself. Again, as evidenced by his crew, it had been awhile since they'd had seen anything like a real fight. Norrington however was still holding a grudge over that whole "escape" thing. They were out of the Commodore's sights for the time being but going anywhere near respectable settlements would bring him running and Jack had to decide what was best for his crew even if they _were_ spoiling for a fight. A third option would be for him to simply drop Winn off by the next inhabited island to make her own way to Port Royal, but that didn't seem nearly as much fun as any of his other choices.

Besides, he'd brought the woman onto his ship for a reason other than personal gain… which meant financial gain…or excitement. Well, not the kind of excitement that came from a good fight though Jack had no doubt that she would willingly provide at least that much. No, his reasons for bringing her aboard were somewhat deeper than he was willing to look at and he had other concerns to tend to, such as the _Kestrel_.

Turning his back on his quarters and their quarantined guest, he returned to the beleaguered merchant vessel, once again using the gangway between the two ships. (Jack tried to avoid ropes when possible – he didn't have much luck with them.)

Safely on deck once again, Jack called out to Gibbs, "What have ye got these gobs doing? Resting their toesies when there's work to be done? Get aloft ye scabs! I want those sails in our hold before the hour is out." Confident that Gibbs would carry out his orders whether he understood them or not, Jack circulated amongst his crew.

"What's been found?" he demanded of a passing crewman.

"Birds, sir."

"Birds?" What did he mean, _birds_?

"Aye. And eggs."

Well, at least eggs were worth something. Chickens didn't take well to the _Pearl _for some reason and trying to get eggs while in harbor was like trying to pry a golden tooth from the mouth of a down on his luck sailor. _Now there's an uncomfortable thought. _"Well then, get…" Jack trailed off as he watched several hands walk by, their arms filled with cages and inside… "Parrots? You've been taking _parrots_ onto my ship?"

"Aye, Capt'n." The sailor grinned. "And 'keets. They'll fetch a fair price, they will."

_Aye, fetch a fair price and in the meantime keep anyone from catching a decent forty winks what with their infernal racket. _ "There's nothing _else_ of value on board?" he asked sharply.

"Oh, for certain. 'Twas a chest of fine pewter plates down in steerage, and a trunk of fancy spices in the galley, and Duncan found a small box full of silver ducats."

Alright. There was a respectable haul. "And the food?"

The other pirate hesitated before answering. "Well, what with the parrots there's only so much room…"

"Gibbs!" Jack roared.

It didn't take long for the first mate to agree that perhaps it might be prudent to unload a few birds in order for there to be room for important things like food…and spirits. "Now, if I've made myself clear, I have a few other matters to take care of." _Although, if the only clothing she has is anything like what she's wearing now…_

"Wait, Jack." Gibbs pulled out his flask and surreptitiously took a sip. "Are you sure it's wise to keep the lass, Capt'n? Not to be superstitious, but women are trouble aboard ship. Just look at what happened last time we tried to ransom a well-bred miss. She spent the entire week weeping and fainting. By the end of it she was too exhausted to do anything but snore, and you were too drunk to do anything but the same. Not to mention what she almost did to Cotton's parrot."

Jack cringed at the memory. "Lady Patience my arse. The only thing she ever waited for was a convenient moment to collapse." The woman had been a bloody nuisance. She'd kept Jack clear of women for two months. _Women **and** rum._ "My ears are _still_ ringing. Do you know how much I regret that little venture?"

"Aye, Capt'n, you've mentioned it before. That's why I want to know whether you're really set to this."

Jack was silent for a moment, a rare moment of public contemplative thought. At last he replied, "No, the lady Winn doesn't seem like the type to go faintin' anytime someone looks at her cross-eyed. She's more likely to heap revenge on the head of the poor man who crosses her."

"Capt'n? Aren't _you_ the poor man who's crossed her recently?"

"Don't remind me," he muttered under his breath as he wandered away. Gibbs had a point. Women like the Lady Patience were – aside from the hysterics – relatively easy to deal with. There was enough grit about Winn to remind him of a few other women he'd regretting crossing, namely Anamaria and _Miss_ Swann. A woman like Winn could have his entire life in an uproar if she set her mind to it, and given her state of mind when he'd left her…

_What I need to do,_ he thought, _is manage to keep Winn off balance until I know what I'm going to do with her._

As he was walking and ruminating on an off-balance "Winnie," Jack remembered the incident with young White. He grumbled as he changed course and weaved his way through his men to get right back where he started. At least he found his first mate directing the crew in absconding with the _Kestrel's_ sails. "Gibbs, by the by, where's young master White?"

"He's back aboard the _Pearl_, Capt'n. Seems his nose was broken in that little tussle earlier." Gibbs went on, a look of disgust on his face. "He whined so much that I was ready to toss him overboard m'self if it would stop his bellyachin'. Instead, I made him leave before another crewman took it into his head to shoot the lad for openin' his trap."

If nothing else up to now – an overabundance of youthful exuberance, partial incompetence, an all-too-general superiority complex – had proved to Jack that White was unsuitable to crew the _Black Pearl,_ then threatening an unarmed maid more than "just a little" and complaining about the results when she fought back was the evidence he needed. A crewman who was incompetent could be taught how things were done. One that didn't take orders could be "persuaded" to do so. Code of conduct could be beaten into one's head. However, no captain could spare the time it would take to put a spine in a jellyfish. "Mr. Gibbs, please tell White that he is strongly encouraged to get back to work because we already have enough barnacles clinging to our hull, and that he'd best start thinking of finding a new occupation."

"Aye-aye, sir."

* * *

The _Kestrel_ had several modest cabins below deck. One was obviously the Captain's cabin; a pair of boots that were far too large for his guest and the clutter necessary to plot courses and determine longitude and latitude filled the small space. Jack lingered a moment as he argued with himself over whether or not he should give a few of the better pieces a new home. His biggest dilemma was how to get the objects into his cabin without Winn noticing and if she'd even recognize where they'd come from if she did. Though why that should matter at all considering she had no say over what he did… 

Jack lifted an interesting looking map just to prove that he didn't care what that female thought of him. And then he put it back because he didn't like that he had to prove to himself that he didn't care what that female thought of him.

…and then he put it back in his pocket because it looked interesting and he wanted another look at it and that was that.

He left the captain's cabin and went into the one next door. The first thing that made an impression was the mess. There wasn't a bare spot on the floor to step on. Clothes and personal effects were scattered everywhere, as if the occupant had been looking for something in particular before rushing out. _Or did my men do this?_ No, as Jack looked around, he made out several distinct piles.

_Well, if she wanted a mess…_ Jack haphazardly tossed the clothing back into the empty trunk and turned his attention to the two unopened ones. He debated which he wanted to open first – they were both roughly the same size though one was much newer than the other.

His pirate heart was drawn to the newer chest with a sense of anticipation as visions of lacy undergarments danced through his head. "Let's see what milady Winifred travels with," he murmured under his breath as he lifted the lid.

"Bugger." There wasn't a single stocking or corset in sight. He reached for and opened the canvas bag that was on top and set it back down when it revealed soaps and brushes and other things necessary to good hygiene. "Don't tell me she's as dull as her clothing." he muttered. However the rest of the trunk held more of the same – a small leather satchel filled with things needed for doctoring, a case of sewing supplies, a spare pair of boots, and a ledger listing the various harbors that had been visited and the transactions made there. The latter, while interesting, was no match for what he found at tucked at the very bottom of the trunk. There was a second canvas bag, _this_ one filled with items used for the care and upkeep of weaponry.

"Now, this is interesting, if problematic. Where are the weapons to go with these?" Putting things back in a rough approximation of how he'd found them, Jack turned his attention to the second trunk.

Inside the trunk he found a quite unusual assortment of objects, though ones more in keeping with the personality of the woman who owned them. On top were several changes of clothes; full-legged breeches in warm colors, shirtwaists in whites and ivories, elongated waistcoats in blues and greens, fingerless gloves in black and brown leather. Winn had a woman's fascination with color after all. "So why wear the burlap sack?"

He contemplated this important question as he pawed through the stockings, shifts, and pantalets he'd originally been looking for. Everything was of fine quality, to be sure, but… "But she mentioned a visit to Port Royal and she could hardly go ashore dressed in any of this. So where's the fancy dresses?" Of course, fancy dresses could be her true costume and might only be worn amongst the proper company. In which case, the seemingly practical Winifred would have those trunks stored somewhere out of her way.

Pleased with the way that he was figuring his captive out, Jack dug further and found a canvas-wrapped layer of less innocent items. A brace of throwing knives, a sword in a well-worn scabbard, a pistol with enough shot and powder for several discharges, an empty sheath for a hideout knife. "She's certainly ready for trouble," he mused. _So why didn't she fight when the ship was boarded? She has the temperament for it._ Jack was considering thisquestion when a box caught his eye. To be more precise, it was actually a wooden case embossed with the insignia of a well-known sugar plantation. A plantation that was as renowned for its high quality rum as for its sugar.

"Well, well, well. What is dear Winnie doing with a bottle of rum that costs more than all her quality clothes put together? I think I shall have to confiscate it until I have a suitable answer to that question." He opened the case and found something very different from what he was expecting. It was a leather roll containing pencils and charcoals and several sizes of paintbrushes. "Wasn't expecting that." So Winnie was an artist. Where was her…? He all but stuck his head into the trunk as he dove into his search, sifting through several books, a folding and worn chess set, a thin wooden box he didn't bother to open… "Ahh," he sighed with no small amount of satisfaction. Lifting the sketchbook out of the chest, Jack tucked it into his jacket. Here was something that would require further study.

"Capt'n?" Marty's bald head poked around the corner. "The sails are in our hold, Capt'n. Any further orders?"

"Yes. Yes, in fact, I _do_ have further orders." Jack rose to his feet. "I want these two chests taken to my quarters, with my complements," he said, gesturing with one of Winn's daggers. The rest of her weapons lay at his feet. Those he'd take over himself though he didn't intent to surrender them until his guest was acclimated to her new surroundings.

* * *

The _Black Pearl's_ crew was good to their orders. Winn sat on top of the cabinets that ran along the bottom of the large stern windows; thanks to the way they belled out, she could see the front half of her ship. It had been a mere hour since Winn had been escorted off her ship, and the _Kestrel_ was sail-less. Her masts and assorted rigging stood against the setting sun like shadows thrown by a candle's flame. The ship looked ever so small and delicate without the wind filling the canvases, as if she'd never been seaworthy at all. 

All the pirates were back on board now, or so she thought. Their shouts as they confirmed and relayed orders could be heard even inside the cabin. Winn could feel the surface underneath her start to gently pitch with the unmistakable motion of a live ship. Captain Riley could just barely be seen addressing his crew in much the same way that Sparrow had earlier. No rescue had come. No pardon had been granted. She knew now that she truly was to be on the _Pearl_ for an undefined amount of time. For a moment or two that afternoon, a part of her had been foolish enough to hope otherwise.

_Is hope ever anything but foolish?_ she wondered. Wasn't that what made hope worthwhile when circumstances were grim?

With a sigh, Winn rested her head against the glass of the window. Her ship was already starting to shrink with distance. _So much for visiting Port-au-Prince._ The only good thing was that when the _Kestrel_ didn't show up as scheduled, her grandfather's acquaintance there would write and complain about not receiving his shipment of tropical birds and how his rich _patrons_ would be upset… Though what her grandparents would make of such a report, especially one followed so closely by Captain Riley's worried her.

Winn sighed again and reached into her pocket. There was papery crinkle as she pulled a piece of parchment out and unfolded it. _Or perhaps Grandmama will think I followed her advice. _The map had been drawn recently and in a familiar hand. Her grandmother – a merry individual who knew as much as her husband about pirates and privateers and those they preyed on and fled from – had drawn it from memory. Winn had been restless lately – her family was large and there was a standing welcome for her at her brothers' houses, and she attended to business for her grandfather and helped her grandmother run their home… It was all busy-ness. She needed some time alone and something constructive to do. So in typical fashion, her grandmother had attempted to solve the problem.

xxx xxx xxx

"You know the Captain would willingly provide you with a dowry." Winn had been sitting in her garden a week ago, watching the moon make reflections on the incoming tide when her grandmother had found her.

"I don't think my lack of a man is the problem." Winn quirked her lips as she watched her grandmother take a seat next to her.

"So I've heard you claim. Though you've never had even a single beau so I don't know how you can be so certain."

"I have no interest in sailors, Grandmama."

"I've also heard you claim that." Silence fell between them. "You're bored."

"No, of course not. How can I be with the company I keep?"

"You mean your grandfather and me?" The older woman snorted. "You're young. And your brothers have all started families of their own. I remember what it was like being unmarried and listening to my sisters go on about husbands and children. It's easy to understand and sympathize, but it's hard to actually get involved in such conversations."

Winn shrugged. "I spend enough time with my young nieces and nephews that getting involved in conversations on childrearing isn't difficult."

"I think the lady doth protest too much."

"Only because she's had this conversation too many times," she replied wryly. "I leave in two days to do some business for Grandfather, and then I'm going to spend a month in Port Royal for an extended visit with Elizabeth. Is her company contemporary enough to satisfy you?"

"You'll spend half your days with Marcus and his brood."

"Yes, but I won't be sleeping in the same house as Marcus and his brood. That will make all the difference."

"You want need out of life than endless visits to family and friends."

"Grandmama…" Winn said in warning. "I love you and respect you but I've no interest in letting you manage my life."

"I'm not managing. I'm interfering. And you should be glad that _I'm_ interfering before the Captain does."

"Is he thinking of trying?"

Hesitation. "He's…toying with the idea. He takes as much notice of your moods as I do."

"I don't have 'moods,' much less ones that need to be noticed," Winn grumbled. "It's just my bad luck to live with a retired captain and a displaced adventurer. One hint of discontent and they're prepared to fire a broadside and ready grapples." Her grandmother's silvery laughter made Winn turn her head. "Well, it's true."

"It is true." When the parchment was offered, Winn took it.

"What's this?"

"A drawing of a map my father used to have hanging in his office. It's said that Sicilian corsairs tucked away a vast treasure in the caves that riddle that island."

"And you're giving this to me for what reason?"

"You've nothing better to do."

"I have nothing better to do than to spend three or four months sailing to…" Winn looked at the map again. "Where is this island? It isn't named."

"There's general coordinates."

Winn looked up in disbelief. "You mean you have no idea where this island is?"

"I have a general idea."

"When was the last time you saw the _real_ map?"

"Not long before I met your grandfather."

"Thirty years. You remembered 'general' coordinates from thirty years ago."

"Well, I never said the island would be _easy_ to find."

"You never said why I should want to find it at _all_, other than the legend of some kind of buried treasure…that people have undoubtedly been searching for for years. And why would any pirate bury a treasure? They need money all the time. And just because you put something somewhere doesn't mean it'll be there when you return, especially if the ocean is a factor in the equation. It tends to steal things and not give them back."

"I never said it was a _well known_ legend. In fact, it's more of a family secret than a legend. I just thought you might want something to occupy you. Especially if the Captain decides to try his own hand at meddling."

"So this is an escape route," Winn had asked, looking down at the map.

"Something like that, yes."

xxx xxx xxx

The doors to the captain's cabin swung open so silently that Winn had no warning when four crewmen entered and dropped two chests down in the middle of the room. Pirates and captive stared at each other for a few moments, and then the men turned and left the room. Winn ran over to the door, but by the time she got there it had once again been secured. 

"Drat." Not that she'd had a clear plan for what would happen once she was out of the cabin. There wasn't anywhere for her to run to anymore. There was nowhere for her to hide. Her only weapon was a lantern she'd drained the oil from and who would take her seriously if she appeared on deck carrying _that?_

Well, standing and tapping her toe in front of the door was getting her nowhere. The room was quickly growing dark with the approaching evening, a sign that she'd been lost in her memories longer than she'd thought. After a long day of robbing other people of their belongings, Sparrow might want to make use of his cabin and the last thing she wanted was to be caught changing by that…rascal. A sensible woman might wait a few minutes or even an hour to make sure that her captor wouldn't make a sudden appearance …or she could simply listen to the chorus on deck and deduce that the captain was a very busy man at the moment.

_Please, please don't be more skirts,_ she thought as she walked over to the trunk. Closing her eyes as she knelt down on the slightly dirty floor, Winn raised the lid, opened her eyes…and was met by the sight of her own unorthodox clothing. _Thank you._ She stood and stripped off her dress, petticoats, and boots. The under-things she had on were still perfectly serviceable; the less time she spent undressed the better. Even if it did sound as if Sparrow were otherwise occupied, she wouldn't count on him needing to see to things personally when he had a form of entertainment waiting for just waiting for his company.

Once she was fully dressed – and slightly warmer – in her brown woolen pants, a heavy linen shirt, blue waistcoat, and socks, she knelt back down to search her trunk for a knife. Though her things had obviously been rifled through, it didn't look as if they'd been closely examined, so…

They were gone. The entire package was gone. She wasn't surprised but she still conducted a second search. There was nothing more dangerous than a letter opener left, though at this point Winn was ready to take what she could get. Out of habit, she strapped the empty sheath for her hideout knife around her calf.

"Well, what do I do now?" From the sounds outside, no one was going to be interrupting her solitude any time soon. "Why doesn't anyone mention how very boring being a prisoner is? Somehow that gets left out of the stories." She caught a glimpse of herself in the glass of the cabinets across the room. "Oh yes, the life-threatening cut that Captain Sparrow was so insistent on caring for." _So insistent that I've been forgotten._ Winn threw open the lid of her other trunk and pulled out the satchel with medical supplies she always carried at her grandparents' demand. That the wound no longer hurt wasn't the point. That pirates weren't always conscientious when it came to cleaning their weapons was.

"Water," she murmured, looking around the room. Empty bottles there were in abundance. What she couldn't find was a carafe of water anywhere. _Figures. Pirates __aren't conscientious about cleaning their bodies either._ The only liquid in the room was held in a half empty bottle by the bed. "Grog is watered down rum," she muttered to herself as she crossed the floor. "The water keeps the men from getting _too_ drunk, and the rum helps to sanitize the water." She pulled the cork out of the bottle and wrinkled her nose as the scent of alcohol reached her. "_This_ is not grog." But it was better than nothing.

A search offered up several silk scarves that were probably future bribes to women with uses for such things. Winn used one as a makeshift washcloth, folding it several times until she had a pad. Dampening the corner with the rum, she gently washed away the dried blood and hopefully cleaned the wound a little. Just to be safe, she went back to her trunk and dug out a small jar of ointment that usually kept scratches from becoming infected. It smelled rather strongly of lavender and fennel, but this was no time to be finicky.

"Now…to solve my boredom…" Winn grinned as the image of Sparrow keeling over as she looked on triumphantly came to mind. "Excellent. Where's my sketch book?"

* * *

Author Thanks: **CaptainTish** (I own several books meaning most of my library that I've read 6+ times. I totally understand the "reading good fiction over and over again" thing. I don't think I'm worried of this being taken down as a repost. It's more of a major reworking of plot while maintaining character. ;) As for the scene with Jack and Winn and the book, it may yet make an appearance.); **HateFilled-Demon **(can I just say I'm very relieved that all you left was a request for another chapter and not a serious set of flames? Because I was worried for a moment when I saw your screen name.) 


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **my internet has been down for two weeks, otherwise I probably would have updated before now. I trust I still have your attention?

I'm thinking of renaming this fic because it truly is turning into a different story that just happens to have sprouted from "Inconvenient." Any ideas?

Also accepting any Jack Sparrow plushies that anyone feels like parting with. ;)

* * *

Jack watched Winn out of steady eyes as the weapon embedded itself in the door mere inches from his head. Without breaking eye contact with her – since he didn't trust her not to attack while he wasn't paying attention – he reached up and removed the blade from the door. To make his point, he silently held it up and examined it. He hadn't thought he'd left her _any_ weapons at all. For the most part he was correct. It'd been a failure of his imagination that he hadn't considered how a letter opener could be turned into a deadly weapon. It wasn't a mistake he'd make in the future.

He approached Winn, allowing her to watch as he tucked her improvised dagger away. "I'll admit that's a useful trick, but I've seen it done better, Winnie. You need to work on your aim."

"What makes you think that I didn't hit what I was trying to, _Captain_?" Her eyes followed his hand until it tucked itself into his belt. "If I'd wanted you dead, you would be."

The contempt in her voice startled him. Until now, Winn had been relatively icy, as if arguing with _anyone_ was beneath her._ But I suppose even ice can burn,_ Jack thought as he reached out and grabbed her chin to force her to meet his eyes. For one moment he thought she would spit in his face for the liberty. Instead, the opposite happened – he watched as she tucked her fury away. Before he could say "really bad eggs," Jack was staring into a human mask. _What would it look like if that control should ever snap? _he idly wondered.

Releasing his grip on her rather abruptly, Jack said in a calm voice, "For what? What would it take for you to personally see to my demise, luv? I've gone out of my way to make you comfortable."

"The only thing you've gone out of your way to do is to allow your men to rape –"

"Pardon me?" Winn's eyes widened in alarm as Sparrow suddenly turned deadly. In an instant she forgot why she'd been upset with him as she tried to back away. She'd gone no more than a few steps when he caught her by the arms and hauled her in. "Is there something you'd like to tell me, Mistress Winifred?"

She opened her mouth wordlessly and wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. "My ship," she whispered. "You allowed your men to rape my ship."

His hands tightened on her arms and for a moment she thought he was going to shake her. But instead he closed his eyes, his lips moving as he silently listed off several of his favorite coordinates. When he finally opened his eyes he was somewhat calmer. Still, his voice was edged with potential danger as he suggested, "Perhaps you'd like to consider the use of another word."

"You mean another word that means to take something by force?" She smiled weakly, willing to placate him if it meant he'd let her go.

He wasn't soothed. "Pirates, luv. We don't usually wait for an invitation." Jack looked at her, hating the way his heart was racing. Didn't the woman have any sense at all? While not exactly encouraged, rape was a common outcome for women removed from their ships by pirates. He tried to avoid hiring men with a taste for such extreme violence, but he knew from experience that there were any amount of depraved tastes could be hidden until it was too late. "I'm still waiting."

Her mouth popped open in surprise. "Is 'pillage' really any better?"

"At least it's a word that usually indicates damage to property instead of one that might lead someone to infer that damage had been done to your own charming person." He let her go before he really _did_ shake her. And then his temper flared up again when the girl chafed her palms against the places where his hands had been, as if he'd dirtied her in some way.

Winn was preparing to run up a white flag when the door to the cabin opened. She and Sparrow both turned to look at the man with the impressive sideburns who entered. He supported a large tray of food with both hands. "The crew thought the two of you might be gettin' a touch famished," he explained with a pasted on smile as he set the tray on the table.

"Are any of them in pain?" Jack snapped.

"What?"

"From pressing their ears against the bloody keyhole!"

Winn flinched at the yelling, then glared back at the man who was glaring at her.

"What'd you do?" Gibbs demanded. "He wasn't in nearly so foul a mood when he came in here."

"What'd _I_ do?" Winn asked in amazement. "_I'm_ the one who was kidnapped. Shouldn't you be asking what _he_ did?" She pointed a finger at Sparrow…who rolled his eyes at her theatrics.

Gibbs looked between the two, his sharp eyes missing nothing, from Winn's rumpled clothing and the way she had her arms crossed protectively in front of her body to the thunderous look on Jack's face. "Ah, so that's the way of it." He turned his attention to Jack before Winn could protest his assumptions. "I'll tell the men to clear the area, sir. Pleasant evening." And then left before his conclusions could be corrected. Man and woman were left staring after him in bemusement.

"Well…" Jack murmured before remembering his guest. He slowly turned his head in her direction, his eyes narrowing once more.

"Oh no…" she said sharply. "You're not going to blame that on me too. I don't _want_ to be here. I didn't _ask_ to be here, and I certainly want nothing that will tie me to this ship once I'm finally gone. All I want is to reach Port Royal."

Jack uncovered the food tray and picked up a banana, unpeeling it slowly to give himself time to cool down before replying. Winn didn't bother cooling down. She waited with smothered impatience, just barely containing the urge to start tapping her bare foot as he finished his task.

Once he was done, Jack said, "Well, you see Winnie, that's my problem. You. I can hardly return you to your ship now without a great deal of effort and embarrassment on my part, savvy? Then there's what you had with you in yonder trunk, the way you act, the way you don't – it all represents an enigma." Jack, taking a bite from his banana, started to circle to her right. Instead of standing still as he expected, she turned with him, her eyes wary. "Now, normally I try to avoid puzzles, and mysteries, and the like," he explained, the sections of the banana peel waving and flopping as he gestured with his hands. "They have a tendency to adversely affect a person's life span. However, when said mystery is wrapped up in an appealing package such as your lovely self…"

With an expression of disgust, Winn snorted. "If we could please continue our conversation without the meaningless flattery?"

"Of course," Jack immediately agreed. Winn's eyes narrowed at his instant concurrence as if she guessed he was trying to divert her focus but he continued before she could think on that. "Now, I'm not particularly thrilled with the fact that I'm stuck with a combative spinster –"

"_Stuck? _Combative _spinster_?" Winn questioned. _That'll teach me to be careful what I wish for. _"Perhaps if you'd made some inquiries before high-handedly whisking me off my ship –"

"You mean questions like whether or not I'm going to have a tribe of angry men-folk sailing after me in an attempt to avenge your virtue?"

_First he objects to my use of the word "rape" and now he's wondering if I have anything worth avenging? I don't think so._ "My _virtue_ is no concern of yours, Captain Sparrow."

"Oh, well, in that case…"

Winn jumped and quickly put the table between them as Sparrow reached for her. "If you don't stop grabbing me, I won't need that letter opener to defend myself, _savvy_?" She said the word mockingly.

"What's wrong, luv? Don't you trust 'ole Jack's intentions?"

Winn snorted. "I trust you about as far as I can throw you. You're a pirate – as you so clearly pointed out – so you're inherently dishonest. And you can stop this…" She gestured between them silently for a moment as her mind sought the right word. "This _nonsense_ right now."

"And which nonsense would that be?" Jack started to edge around the table and Winn moved with him to maintain her distance.

"Trying to make me believe you're attracted to me."

"If you don't believe it, then why are you running?" he purred lazily. The indolent grin on his face rubbed her the wrong way and Winn planted her feet, putting an end to their childish game. Her resolution was harder to hold on to as he moved close enough for her toes to touch the tips of his boots. As he leaned in his fingers fluttered around her elbows and shoulders as if looking for a place to land. "What's wrong, Winnie? Am I gettin' under your skin?" Jack's voice was low and gravelly.

Winn swallowed hard, but not for the reason he would have liked. She could put on a brave front, but she didn't like strangers and she didn't like closed in places, and she really didn't like strangers that made her feel closed in. But if he knew that, she'd never be able to turn around without tripping over him. _This stops now. _She gathered her nerves and rose up on her toes so her mouth was close to his ear and her hands reached down to grab his. She wasn't keen on the way his fingers immediately entwined with hers but she needed something to keep her steady. "Aye, you're gettin' under my skin, _Jack_," she whispered in his ear before saying flatly, "but so did the patch of stinging nettles I fell in when I was twelve." Having delivered her parting blow, Winn tried to pull away…but Sparrow didn't let her go.

_Her skin smells like rum,_ was all he could think for a moment as he met her eyes. Then he registered what she was attempting to do and reluctantly loosened his fingers. _This is not good._ "I think it's time we discussed sleeping arrangements." The frown in Winn's eyes grew darker. "I hate to shock you, but I'm afraid I must insist on your sleeping here."

"Now see here –" Winn immediately protested. Before she could really work herself into a temper that promised to be entertaining, Jack broke in.

"Sorry to disappoint you, luv, but I won't be available to help stave away the loneliness. I'll be on deck all night steering my ship. But you're free to stay here all night even without the benefit of my charming company. Come morning, I'll come in here to get some sleep, and you'll get to spend some time on deck under the watchful eyes of my crew. Savvy?"

Winn thought about it, searching for any loopholes he might use to justify creeping in while she was unaware. "Do I get my letter opener back?" His proposal was sound in principle but she'd sleep better if she had some way of defending herself.

"If you have a letter you need opened, you can just give it to me."

"That's not the reason I want it, as you're well aware."

"Aye, I'm well aware. But _I_ for one intend on keeping my word. And no one is going to be able to sneak past me to cause you mischief if I'm awake all night at the wheel. So you don't need anything that could be used to draw blood."

Winn fumed, but it seemed unlikely that she was going to be able to change his mind. "Very well. Did you have something else to say, Captain? Because if you don't, I would appreciate it if you would leave. The sun is down, and for most people that means that it's night. I believe you said something about steering your ship?"

"I take it that means we have an accord?"

"Oh, I'd say we are certainly in agreement. You'll respect my privacy and I'll do nothing that even faintly resembles sharing your bed. Good night, Captain Sparrow. Please knock before entering this room again." Her smile was tight and insincere.

Jack froze, trying to understand what was wrong with this state of affairs. "Am I to understand," he said slowly, "that _you_ are kicking me out of _my_ cabin?"

"Oh, well, not immediately. There _is_ something I want from you first." She waited for him to start to smile in triumph before she finished, "I'd greatly appreciate it if you would be so kind as to return my sketchbook before you go."

Surprised and somehow pleased by her audacity, Jack reached into his coat and pulled out her book. He held it just out of her reach and when she stepped forward to grab it, he didn't let go. "I'll make sure to think of something you can do to return the favor, luv," he murmured, his eyes intense on hers. Then he let go with a little smirk and left the cabin.

For several minutes after he left, Winn looked down at the book. She wondered if she'd truly won their last engagement, and if her book would be worth whatever price Sparrow would dream up.

* * *

Dawn was just a shadow on the horizon when Jack stumbled into his cabin. His main thought was that turn about was fair play and that Winn was going to find herself outside in short order one way or another. And perhaps he would have thrown her out if he hadn't first looked at the bed. His guest simply wasn't there.

Jack ducked as he twirled around, expecting her to be behind him with something either heavy or breakable raised above her head.

No luck there either.

"It's too early for this," he grumbled under his breath as he pulled off his jacket and heavy leather sword belt. Not that a game of "hide me, find me" wasn't enjoyable under the right circumstances, but Jack doubted Winn could be persuaded.

"Where is the troublesome…wench…" Jack slowly approached his chair. "What's this?" There was a pile of blankets and what appeared to be the tip of a pillow hanging over the arm of the chair. _Oh bugger!_ The pile moved.

Everything clicked into place once his heart slowed down. No Winnie in bed. No Winnie planning a sneak attack. "I'll do nothing that even faintly resembles sharing your bed," he repeated in a snooty voice as he carefully lifted one edge of the blanket, revealing a black head on a white pillow. _I admit…the lass keeps her word._ As he lifted the blanket further he found she was clasping an empty bottle around the neck. _And __she **is** armed. At least I was right about that. _He glanced at Winn and then at his empty bunk. The night had been long and not particularly exciting, and without the promise of entertainment weariness was setting in. _Well if she doesn't want the bed…_

Jack went over and sat on the edge of his bunk, pulling off his boots and hat while he kept an eye on the bundle on his chair. There was something about the situation that bothered him. It wasn't that she hadn't woken up even though he was making no effort to be quiet. It wasn't that he knew she was going to be in pain when she woke up after spending the night like that. It wasn't even that she didn't seem to trust him no matter what reassurances he gave her.

It was that _she_ had kicked _him_ out of _his_ cabin…and now she was unconscious. And he was _in_ the cabin. The very fact that she was asleep was almost an invitation to mischief.

_I shouldn't,_ he scolded softly as he sat there watching her. _I **really** shouldn't…_he said as he got to his feet and walked across the floor, a broad grin on his face. _…not without taking the bottle away first. _

She didn't stir when he scooped her out of the chair and carried her back to the bed. Her only protest was an indistinct mumble. _Well, she didn't say no,_ he rationalized as he laid her on the bed. _And really, how do I know she wasn't thanking me for thinking of her neck? _Then of course it was only natural to make her more comfortable by removing her glasses and her boots. He was tempted to remove more, but Winn was so tightly bundled up in the blanket that he doubted he could _get_ to anything else without waking her.

_If the chair was comfortable enough for her, then this will surely do._ Satisfied that he'd found a payment worthy of being kicked out of his own domain, Jack fell into bed and slipped into sleep.

* * *

_The wood is too dark._ That was the only thought in Winn's head as she tried to force her hazy mind to work. The wall in front of her was unrecognizable – the _Kestrel_ was a fairly new ship and the planking had been sealed with a pitch that was amber in color. Besides, her cabin on that ship was small and the air moved in a completely different way…

_I'm not on the _Kestrel._ I'm…_ Winn all but levitated in her effort to sit up, put her back against the wall, and defend herself all at once. Her efforts gained her little but the attention of the man sitting in the chair she _knew_ she'd gone to sleep in last night. He grinned at her and set down the pencil he'd been using.

"I was starting to wonder if you'd hit your head at some point," he ragged. Or at least, that was her point of view. She was _not_ a morning person and being teased by someone she didn't particularly like after a long day and a tense night did not improve her attitude. Neither did seeing the indentation of a head on the pillow beside her as she searched for her mysteriously absent spectacles.

"I suspect there are other reasons for my headache," she snapped as she checked under her blanket to ensure that her clothing was all in place.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, luv," Jack slurred in amusement. "Not even Cotton's parrot or Gibbs' grossly inaccurate imitation of a church mouse woke you. You were sleeping so soundly that I could have wreaked considerable havoc with your apparel without your taking notice. But due to my remarkable restraint –"

"Ha!"

"Oh, make no mistake, my self-indulgence _has_ been restrained where you're concerned, lass." Jack grinned as he propped his booted feet up on the table. As the morning had worn on and his guest hadn't awoken, he'd settled down to the business side of captaining his _Pearl_,for clearly his earlier mischief wasn't producing any fruit. There were log books and reckonings awaiting his attention in the absence of more interesting pastimes. And moving the chair so that he could also keep an eye on Winnie had only been logical, considering he still wouldn't put it past her to sneak up behind him and bash him over the head. This though…this was worth his wait. "Why, if you'd been abducted by anyone other than Captain Jack Sparrow –"

"Other pirates are hardly something I have to be concerned with, are they, _Captain_ Sparrow? I'm here, and regrettably, so are you. And _you_ don't exactly have the reputation of a choir boy –"

"I should hope not. Though it seems my good deeds are bound to always go unnoticed. Here it is, unequivocally _daytime_, and I let you continue sleeping out of the goodness of my black heart." _One really has to appreciate how the proper application of reason makes her clam up, _he thought as Winn's mouth snapped shut _Even if her lips are less than attractive when drawn into a tight line like that._ He blinked and frowned, not liking how thoughts like those kept popping into his head. _Move it along, mate._

Luckily, Winn took no notice of his antics. She was too busy searching for her spectacles. They weren't terribly expensive seeing as how they were nothing more than glass set into frames; it was the way they diverted male attention that made them valuable. Sparrow saw too much with those eyes of his for her taste and his attentions were too flirtatious for her comfort.

"Looking for these?" Jack pulled her glasses out of his vest pocket and held them up to the light. He squinted through them doubtfully, well aware of the fierce glare being sent his way. "Your eyesight must be very poor indeed for these to be so strong as to appear normal."

"Oh dry up," Winn said in disgust as she clambered off the wide bunk. "I'm getting tired of you stealing my belongings at your every whim."

"I couldn't help it." Jack stood as Winn's face suddenly became warlike. At least when standing he had the advantage of height, though he wasn't sure how valuable said advantage would be if he didn't distract her soon. She certainly didn't look intimidated.

"If you don't give those back, there's going to be several things that _I'm_ not going to be able to help, Sparrow." Without her boots, she just barely reached his chin, but she marched up to him anyway. "If you please?" She held out her hand and waited.

Jack looked from the glasses which he was holding over his head to her outstretched palm. "I tell you what. You do a favor for me; I'll do a little favor for you. Savvy?"

"I wasn't _asking_ for a favor –"

"Then you should have been more precise in your phrasing. Ah, ah!" He raised his prize a little higher over his head and took a step back as fire lit in her blue eyes. No, without her glasses, he could see that blue wasn't quite the shade of her eyes. _Stop it! _"You wouldn't be considering doing something so rash as hitting the captain of the ship you're a captive on, are you?" Silly question. He could see that she was. "That would be decidedly unwise. Better to take the swap I'm offering."

He was right. Depending on the ship, striking the captain or any other officer – if that term could be applied in a setting as democratic as a pirate ship – was punishable by whipping, being restricted to short rations, or even being left to hang from a yard in the hot sun for the day. As she ground her teeth, Winn thought, _Just for once, **I'd** like to win._ "And just what is it that you want in return for my glasses?" she asked in a carefully neutral voice.

Jack grinned and pointed over her shoulder with one grimy finger.

The grime didn't catch her attention as much as its length; he had unusually delicate hands for a sailor. _Why a career in piracy? Why not music?_

_She's not looking._ Why was it that no one ever understood when he was gesturing to something? Jack cleared his throat and pointed a bit more emphatically.

Winn blushed as she realized she'd been staring and turned around before he could see it. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite discern what he'd been pointing at. There was nothing to see but a small pile of clothing on the floor. "If you wanted clothes, Captain, then you should have raided the stores on the _Kestrel._ I doubt mine would fit you well."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, my own clothes suit me just fine, Mistress Winn. It's just that it's been awhile since we've made port and –"

"Oh _no_. No!" Winn shook her head and walked away as she started to understand what he was getting at. "I'm _not_ a laundry maid."

"Very well." Jack started to tuck the glasses away. "If that's the way you want it."

"What kind of pirate holds _spectacles_ for ransom?" she demanded.

"The ingenious kind."

"Sparrow!"

"Winifred!" he mimicked. In an instant she was back in his face but Jack merely grinned down at her. "Something you wanted, luv?"

"I…" She pointed her finger at him, then slowly curled her hand into a fist. He thought he could best her? He thought he could humble her, teach her about respect?

Never.

But he didn't have to know that quite yet.

"I will require a tub and hot water," she hissed. He'd be looking for defiance. Better to let him see it than have him watching for hidden rebellion.

"Ah, I knew you were the reasonable sort." Jack picked up his hat and carefully placed it on his head. "Just gather up my laundry and we'll set you up."

_Someone's getting set up,_ she agreed as she distastefully picked up his dirty clothes. _But it's not me._

* * *

_"Where is she?"_ That his entire crew turned and froze as he came storming out of his cabin did little to calm Jack's temper. "Where is the bloody, deceitful little minx?" As if he truly needed to ask. There were few places where a passenger could truly be out of the way on a working vessel. Winn wasn't in the cabin and she'd repeatedly turned down offers to go below decks, which left _one_ place for her to be. But it was the principle of the thing that mattered; he _wanted_ her to hear him coming.

And she did. It was just that she was still irritated enough to not care. Sparrow's bark was worse than his bite. Well, most of the time. Winn did grudgingly admit to herself that he had managed to truly rattle her once or twice. _But that __doesn't change the fact that **he** started it._ It was time he learned that she could give as good as she got.

Besides, when it came to roaring, Sparrow could afford to take a few lessons from her grandfather.

Jack found Winn exactly where he expected to, but that was all the satisfaction he got. She certainly didn't look apprehensive as she leaned against the bulwark, her dark head bent over a book. The bowsprit rose up behind her and the hand of the _Pearl's_ figurehead could just be seen. It was such a picturesque scene that for a moment he actually found himself hesitant to intrude on it. Then the wind huffed and puffed and he was reminded of what she'd done.

As his shadow fell over her book, Winn was certain she was going to be roughly jerked to her feet and marched across the deck for a private reprimand in Sparrow's cabin. His past behavior proved that he had no problem bullying her. But he just stood there. _If he's waiting for me to break down and confess and beg for forgiveness, he's going to be standing there for a long time,_ she thought mulishly.

Stalemate. Jack was nearly frustrated enough to turn around and leave. But the blasted woman would see that as some kind of surrender on his part and he wasn't about to let her have that kind of victory. This was _his_ ship where _he_ was captain and _no one_ was going to get the best of him – unless, of course, he could get something out of it. The only thing he'd get out of _this_ however, was having Winn in a better mood and a lot of jibes from his crew. That was _not _a fair trade.

Winn pulled her feet in closer to her body as Sparrow stepped forward. Having acknowledged his presence in even that small way, it was no longer believable to keep ignoring him. "You're standing in my light, Captain Sparrow," she said without raising her head. "I truly hate to complain because I know you'd _never_ inconvenience me without good reason, but I would appreciate it if you'd be so kind as to move." The words themselves were politely phrased, but the tone Winn used was one usually reserved for giving orders.

The captain's dark eyes glittered with irritation. _She thinks she's seen the worst of me._ While not necessarily true, it was probably true enough in her case. He still had a few threats in reserve but not many. In fact, if she weren't so set on bedeviling him, Jack would probably enjoy her company. She was quick and inventive and didn't back down easily. All attractive traits when they were used for what _he_ wanted. "The last time I checked, lass, pirates have never been considered a convenience."

"True enough." Winn yawned and turned a page. It was all part of the act; she hadn't read a word all day. She'd been too occupied waiting for Sparrow's reaction to her counterattack. He may have deprived her of every weapon capable of drawing blood but she was used to being creative. As she'd said before, she had older brothers.

**_Enough_**_ is enough,_ Jack thought as he rolled his eyes. He was done playing.

His voice was low and dangerous as he said, "I think you'd best put your book down and stand up, luv. I'm wanting some answers."

Winn finally looked up and to his surprise she looked no more amused than he felt. "Is there something wrong, Captain Sparrow?"

"Don't be disingenuous," he growled.

Winn sighed as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her grandmother's folded map to use as a bookmark. If they were going to do this, she might as well be on her feet. Once standing, she conceded, "Very well. I assume you have a complaint with the manner in which your clothing was cleaned."

Jack leaned in until they were nose to nose. "I smell like a bloody rose!"

"And it's certainly an improvement on how you smelled before," she deadpanned.

Retaliation came faster than she could expect. One moment she was staring up at him defiantly, the next she was reaching for the glasses he'd ripped off her face. "Give those back! Sparrow, don't you –" He dared. Winn stared at him in dismay as he tossed her glasses over the railing. "I was _using_ those." It was all she could think to say.

"And this is certainly an improvement on how you looked before," Jack sniped back.

"You had no right to do that! Those were _mine_. I can't believe a big, bad pirate like you're supposed to be could have his ego so badly wounded by a little prank that –"

"I had every right," Jack interrupted. The truth was that he was more than a little surprised – and perhaps a little ashamed – at his actions himself. But he couldn't seem to keep his emotions from escalating in accordance to her own. It was probably quite a show, one that every hand on deck was likely enjoying… _Bugger, bugger, bugger._ "If I so desired, I could divide your belongings, your efforts, and your time amongst my crew and no one would gainsay me. That you're not washing and mending and polishing your little fingers to the bone is only because of my good nature."

_A nature that's not currently being evidenced._ Winn knew she was out of control but his truths were too close to threats for her peace of mind. A single woman depending on a pirate's "good nature" to keep her safe was like a seal pup relying on a shark for protection. So she struck out with the only weapon he couldn't take away. "Oh, I can see I was wrong. Apparently your ego is thriving and 'tis only exceeded in size by your _head!_"

"Gibbs!" It was a call of desperation. "Keys, now!" As he waited for the man to fetch the ring of keys from his quarters, Jack turned to Winn. She fought him this time, trying to evade his grasping hands, but he caught her wrists anyway. "I hate to do this, Winnie."

"Liar," she said bitterly. He was taller, his arms were longer, and he was blocking her from putting any space between them at all. She'd never stood a chance. Escape wasn't even an option when he bent down to pick up the book she'd dropped. Escape wouldn't even make her feel good at this point. "Time to put the useless old bird back in her gilded cage?"

"Not this time. I have work to do and I doubt you could manage to muzzle yourself long enough for me to complete it. Ah, thank you." Jack ignored the expectant look on Gibbs' face. Whatever the older man wanted to say could wait until they no longer had an audience Jack decided as he walked away.

Winn dug in her heels at first. She didn't know what Sparrow had meant when he'd said "not this time," but it didn't sound promising. However Jack was in no mood to explain things and he just kept pulling until in her stubbornness Winn stumbled over herself. Sparrow looked over his shoulder to see what was holding her up then patiently waited for her to get back to her feet.

"You could help you know," she snapped. Her wrists were still caught tight in his hand and feet kept getting tangled up in her wide pant legs.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I could. But you'd have to accept it for it to do you any good."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

_She's nothing more than a prickly mass of defensiveness._ And he wasn't acting much better. "It means stop struggling long enough to set your feet against the deck, and _then_ pull against my hold. You probably could have figured that out if you weren't so set on looking for ulterior motives on my part."

Her face burning, Winn forced herself to stop trying to escape and rise at the same time. She could see Sparrow brace himself as she leaned back against his hold and levered herself to her feet. He didn't dump her, he didn't trip her up, and he didn't press on before she could regain her balance. All she could think was, _Why is he being so nice?_ She didn't like that his consideration immediately made her suspicious.

"Now, are you going to come along without any additional fuss, or should I just throw you over my shoulder?"

_So much for being nice._ "I'd like to see you try," she snapped.

Jack eyed her, tempted to take her up on it. The chance to give her a taste of what a pain in the… "No you wouldn't," he replied as he swung back around and pulled her after him. "Trust me just this once."

Winn let him pull her along though she muttered under her breath as they walked to the nearest hatch. Then she truly had something to worry about. "We're not going down there, are we?"

"That is my plan, yes. After you."

"I don't want to go below." She tried to be reasonable. She tried to sound pitiful. He just grunted and waited for her go down the ladder. "Please, Captain Sparrow," she asked.

Jack ignored her request and insistently pushed her forward until she didn't have much choice about using the ladder. He followed after and repeated the process to get her down to the next deck. By that time she'd given up pleading with him and simply stood by and watched while he opened up one of the doors to the brig. There was an impatient look on his face as he waited for her to enter, but Winn dumbly stood by his side and stared at the small, dark space.

"Will you at least leave me a light?" she asked softly, not meeting his eyes.

Jack didn't need to see them to know how she was feeling; the way she was wringing her hands said everything and it did nothing for his disposition. _Why does she have to go all vulnerable the moment she's convinced me that she's invincible? _"Aye, lass," he said through gritted teeth. It was hard to be kind. "I'll leave a light."

"And my book?"

He was tempted to say no. The entire point of locking her down here for a few hours was to force her to think about and reconsider her decision to declare war on him. Well, one of the points. The other was so that his crew would work instead of wasting their time with gawking and gossiping as he was sure they were doing. But if she were truly someone who suffered from enclosed places then the only thing she was going to be able to think about were her surroundings. Even the distraction of her book might not help greatly.

Jack wanted to bang his head against the wall. There was nothing he could do that wouldn't increase her distaste for him. It was getting to the point where he was quickly forgetting why he wanted her good will in the first place. That was why when he remembered the paper he'd seen her use to mark her place earlier, he gave into the curiosity he had to admit to.

He slipped the paper out of the book and into his pocket.

"Thank you," Winn whispered as she accepted the book and stepped inside without further resistance. She was so unsettled that she didn't even notice that her map was missing.

* * *

**Author's Note the Second: Adventures in Babysitting…** so last night I was babysitting for some friends of mine so that they could go see PotC2 without the toddler and infant in tow. Well, their baby daughter is a total crack-up and had somehow managed to see the movie before they had, because the entire time she was gone she was roaring at me (she makes the cutest little baby dinosaur/tiger roars), sliming me, and gnawing on my finger. She thought she was a sea monster. 

**Author's Thanks:** woo-hoo! I have so many people to thank since last time. **HateFilled-Demon **(That is the great part of revisiting an old fic. The bare bones of character are established so there's more freedom in filling things out.); **Vestergaard** (You're rediscovering this too? I know I'm enjoying myself. I don't know if the other story was so good that you remembered the title. I would pin that on having one word for a title. Catchy and easy to remember, right? ;) Rambling is wonderful, I tend to do it myself, so no worries.); **The DuTchess of Doom** ("…infinitely better than last, and the company has definitely improved…" "Mr. Sparrow! I don't think I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk." "I know exactly what you mean, luv." Sorry, that's what your review reminded me of, and then I had to get it out of my head. ;) Rediscovering Jack and Winn is like finding an old childhood toy. So very much fun.); **CaptainTish** (Unless you're established and have been updating regularly for awhile, it's hard to get reviews when you first start a fic. I almost like it better that way, like I've earned them and not brought reviewers over from another fic that might have perhaps been better. Not that I'm complaining about anyone who wants to give me their two cents worth. :P This time around all that's really changed is that I know more about pirates, and about Henry Morgan, and all that kind of history stuff. I'm still not anywhere near being historically accurate, but I am being a bit more historically faithful.); **Dawnie-7** (that part with Grandmother and the map are going to be rather large additions, or so I think at this point in time. I hope it'll stay that way.); **Jeni** **Star** (Jack really is a great deal of fun to play with. I wish I owned him…before he gets slimed by the beastie, that is.); **ColdPlayGirl** (I don't know if Winn is going to be more "emotional" per se – and I do think I know what you're trying to get at – but I know her better so I can really establish her character earlier on in the fic rather than getting a good grip of her moods halfway through.)


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Hmm…no plushie in my mailbox. It's a sad thing. I wonder if I know any little kids I can steal one from… halo

Look at this, another chapter. I can tell already that this fic is going to turn into a beast ("Hello, beastie."). I'm 43 pages in and 43 pages into Inconvenient Jack was getting ready to crash a wedding. I'm not sure what I've unleashed

A little vocabulary for later on in this chapter: A "waggoner" is a collection of sea charts. Like an atlas, but for sailors. The first one was complied by Lucas Waghenaer in 1584. I got this information from "Under the Black Flag: the Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates" by David Cordingly. I highly recommend it for anyone who's looking for info on pirates but doesn't want to be inundated or talked down to…because this book manages to avoid both.

* * *

Jack met Gibbs and Cotton on his way back up. He handed the keys to the man with the bird. "Here. Escort our guest topside in the event she should start making strange noises." The parrot squawked, but Jack paid it no mind. His thoughts were already elsewhere. Even the sound of Gibbs following and making various protesting noises was of no import. All that mattered was that Winn's sudden defenselessness had robbed Jack of any satisfaction that might have taken an edge off his mood. Now instead of looking back at a job well done, he was simply frustrated.

There were three ways of relieving that frustration in his opinion. One method was going to be unavailable to him until they made landfall; the woman currently in the brig was hardly going to accommodate him. The second was to get thoroughly drunk – and things might still come to that, but he would prefer to have a clear head when Winn got out of the brig. The third way however…

"Where's the monkey?" Jack spun around and demanded.

"…of refinement-like if you know what I…huh?" Gibbs came to something of an abrupt conversational stop though his forward motion lagged behind his mouth. Both men staggered with the force of the collision but Jack's mood was so bad that even this further nuisance made no impact on him.

"Now, Capt'n –"

"Don't 'Now Capt'n' me," Jack growled.

"But you _know_ it's a waste of good lead."

"If a waste of good lead is what it takes to make me feel better then I know I want to shoot the monkey. Never mind." He twirled back around and started up the ladder.

"Well, if you don't mind my saying so, I did say so, Jack."

"Said so what…and when?" The crew was conspicuously industrious as he stormed through their midst on his way to his cabin. _At least **someone** takes care when they hear me coming._ He slipped his hand into his pocket and closed his hand around the slip of paper he'd lifted. _What is she really up to? Where is she truly so eager to get to?_

"Bringing the mistress aboard has been…less than profitable. S'always a risk with these well-bred –"

"Ha! _Spoiled_ is more like it." A vicious yank disposed of the now useless rope, though it seemed to cling to Jack's hand with a life of its own as he attempted to toss it aside. Muttering under his breath, he shook it off and entered the quiet – relative quiet as Gibbs was still going on and on – of his cabin.

"You can't keep the lass down in the brig forever, Capt'n."

"Whyever not? What does this look like to you?" Jack thrust the crumpled parchment under his first mate's nose.

"Uhh…a map?"

"Hmm…that's what I thought," Jack mumbled. Just like that, his anger and frustration were gone, swept away by curiosity. _This_ was not what he'd been expecting. A letter from whomever Winn was going to be meeting, perhaps a bit of scrap paper with a few incomplete sketches on it...a love letter at most, and even then only if he'd been extraordinarily lucky.

But a map?

"If you don't mind my asking, Capt'n, where'd you get that?"

"From our unprofitable, well-spoilt pain in the arse. Is than an 'X?'" Jack pointed, then pulled the parchment away so that _he_ could look more closely. It was an "X," and next to it was a more finely detailed illustration. "What is our guest doing with a treasure map?"

"Treasure?"

Jack grinned absentmindedly as he went to Winn's trunks and dug out her sketch book. Trust the mention of loot of some sort to distract the man from his preoccupation with the map's owner.

"That's what it looks like." As he'd first thought, the hands were similar but not identical. His guest hadn't drawn this, but he'd wager that she knew who had.

"I don't suppose this treasure is near by; say perhaps, within the range of a few days' sailing?"

"Uh…" Jack examined the sheet with a dubious look as he turned it this way and that. "I'm not sure. How's your Italian, mate?" _Trust the woman to have an incomprehensible map._ He didn't wait for an answer from Gibbs, going instead to his cabinets where he started to pull out every waggoner he owned. "Tell the men to make sail for Kew."

"Not Tortuga?"

It irritated Jack to be questioned when he was honestly looking out for the best interests of his crew – and himself by extension – but the puzzle in front of him put a considerable dent in his feelings. "Kew doesn't see the trade that Tortuga does, but the ships that provision there will pay more for that cargo of living feather dusters that happens to be making a mess of my ship. And if we sail to the south-east of Inagua, it won't take much longer to reach it. Never fear; we'll make port in Tortuga long enough for them to gamble away their profits."

"Aye, Capt'n."

"Oh, and Mr. Gibbs…" When the man paused for further orders, Jack finished, "Remember to let our guest out in a couple hours if her nerves don't get to her first."

* * *

_Why?_ Winn pulled her legs up to her chest as she sat on top of the wooden crate. Despite the heat of the sun outside, this part of the _Pearl_ was chillyand as it would be on any other ship the air was clammy. Still, those two things alone could have been ignored were it not for the sound of rats moving around in the dark. _Why did he have to put me **here**?_

She closed her eyes and pressed her face into her knees. The familiar scent of her own clothes partially blocked the smell of mildew and the darkness behind her lids was more comfortable than the light cast by the lantern Sparrow had left her. At least then she felt as if she were confined by her own choice.

_All right, I understand the **why**. _Now that she was calm she could see he'd had a point about giving them both time to cool their heads. Winn was even willing to admit to herself that the captain of any vessel had the right to decide how to discipline those in their care, including civilians who made a nuisance of themselves…

_But it's not as if he's giving me a choice!_ Her mother had always told her to ignore her brothers when they'd attempted to irritate her. Like Sparrow, they'd often turned to her for entertainment on rainy days when playing outside hadn't been an option. And she'd responded to them in the same way as she responded to Sparrow – by ignoring her mother's advice and allowing her temper to show. But her brothers had not only loved her, but had been reined in by the presence of their parents. Things had never truly had a chance to get out of hand.

Winn shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a position that would keep the bars of the cell from digging into her spine or keep her bottom from going numb. _So I'm a __reckless hothead with a tendency to act without any forethought at all. **His** behavior isn't much better._ In fact his behavior was remarkably like that of her brothers when – even now – on the rare occasion they decided to act like children. Growing up had taken some of the edge out of their teasing and their pranks and having grown up herself had helped as well. She knew that she was a woman with a strong mind and determined nature…but she'd also learned a bit about being patient. Or at least she thought she had. The moment she wasn't in control of her situation she appeared to regress back to childhood.

_Does **anyone** ever truly grow up?_ She'd been so certain that maturity was evidenced by the ability to act without having to consult others, to have independence and the self-control needed to retain it, to know the limits of one's abilities...to be able to depend on one's self. But here she was in a mess of her own making. And why was she in a mess? Because she had consulted no one – not that there was anyone to talk to – she'd lost her self-control, and over-estimated what she was capable of when trapped.

But did that make her childish? Or was it a lapse into foolishness?

And how much of it could she blame on Sparrow?

_No, that won't help…other than to make me feel better._ She had to do what she could to clean up her side of this mess. Clearly, she had no control over Sparrow and the illusion that she did was likely the _only_ thing that was tripping her up. Once she accepted that, then she'd be able to not only handle her own messy emotions better, but might even be able to find some way to successfully battle Sparrow.

Battle… Was that the right word? Yes, he was as irritating as a pebble in her shoe. But _she_ was the one refusing to cede that he had authority that she needed to give way to. And she really did have more sense than that, even if she wasn't acting like it. Sparrow may have gone too far in throwing her spectacles overboard – he'd done it as revenge not as a disciplinary action – but perhaps she could have swallowed her pride and not intentionally tried to make a fool out of him. Then he wouldn't have gotten so upset and she would still have her glasses. Though it wasn't as if they were even the issue. What had her hackles up was Sparrow's callous disregard for her importance.

_And isn't that a lowering thought? I'm not upset because something I owned was taken away from me. I'm upset because I'm used to being treated with respect…respect that actually belongs to Grandfather and just happens to trickle down to me because I'm his granddaughter. _

She laughed humorlessly. _Good lord, my brothers have been right all along. I'm a little tyrant._

A grating screech jarred Winn out of her thoughts. "That's not a rat," she murmured as she picked the lantern up off the floor. Excited chattering greeted her actions and she located a bright pair of eyes up near the top of the gate. "Well, hello there." Seeing the confined spaces all around her made Winn's stomach churn, so she didn't take her eyes off the monkey. "What's a pretty thing like you doing down here?" Alright, so perhaps monkeys weren't her favorite animal, but her grandmother had kept one for a pet a few years ago so Winn knew how to deal with them. "Want some biscuit?" There was a bit of very hard bread in her pocket – originally meant to be bird food – and she dug it out.

The monkey examined the offering in her outstretched hand for no more than a moment before crawling through the gate and jumping onto her shoulder. One small hand grabbed her hair as its tail wrapped around her arm. Balanced, the animal reached out and snatched the food from her palm and immediately started gnawing on it.

Winn waited for a moment, unsure if moving would startle the animal into flight. However, it seemed perfectly content to sit on her shoulder and eat. Even after she carefully moved back to her seat it stayed with her, allowing her to go so far as to gingerly pet it. "Aren't you sweet," she said, just to hear something other than the sound of a ship in motion. _Well, at least I have some company._ And even if that company wasn't human, she found herself relaxing enough to reach for her book. She didn't think she'd be able to read, but staring at the map her grandmother had drawn was strangely soothing. Perhaps it was because she found herself in a situation she wished to escape and that was the reason she had been given the map in the first place; to have a place to escape to.

_Or I would if I can __figure out where this island actually is._ Winn absently opened the book when the map wasn't easily found. When a quick run through the pages didn't reveal what she sought, she frowned.

_Where did it go? _

* * *

The cursedly familiar sound of a chattering animal brought Jack out of his deep study. In an instant he was on his feet, gun in hand, a fierce grin on his face.

Winn froze in her tracks, her eyes widening in shock an instant before Sparrow's narrowed in annoyance; he couldn't very well shoot the pest as long as it was on the woman's shoulder. The monkey seemed to be the only one that wasn't surprised. It braced its front paws on the top of Winn's head as it started to make very rude sounds at Jack, taking flagrant advantage of its new acquaintance.

"That animal is _not_ coming in here," Jack growled. He didn't put his gun away. The moment it left Winn, he was going to shoot it.

"It's just a monkey," Winn said in bewilderment, shocked that Sparrow would actually kill a living thing on sight. He honestly hadn't struck her as that malicious.

"That animal is _not_ coming in here," he repeated, ignoring her statement.

"But –" Winn bit the inside of her cheek and closed her eyes. _I'm behaving myself. I'm behaving myself._ "Very well." Because her eyes were shut as she went to work disentangling the monkey from her hair, she missed Jack's look of shock.

_What's this?_ Jack had been certain that his guest would have been more than ready for a battle by this point. Being left in the brig for two hours should have been just the first reason for her to be in a temper. He brought the gun in his hand up to his face for a quick examination, and then looked at Winn again. She didn't _look_ intimidated. What she looked was frustrated as she tried to get a good grip on furry passenger.

"Could you…give…me a hand?" Winn asked haltingly as she twisted and contorted in her attempts to grab the monkey. All she had a firm hold of was its tail. While she had no qualms about pulling the monkey off with just that grip, it did still leave the animal four paws to hang on with. And it was stubbornly doing so.

"Ahh…well…"

"You're not scared, are you, Captain?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Of course not." Jack managed to sound offended even though he didn't get any closer.

Winn turned and looked at him, a strange look on her face. "You are." Strange. She would have said that there was little that truly intimidated Jack Sparrow, and an animal whose height didn't even reach his knee wouldn't have been on her list.

"Am not."

"Then you must mean for me to leave." Winn gave up on trying to catch the animal and turned to go.

It'd been his intension to parley with the stubborn woman before he'd gotten so engrossed with her map. Allowing her to leave now would give him the opportunity to cover his crime if she hadn't already discovered it. And due to the lack of fury on her part, he assumed she hadn't. So it'd truly be better for all concerned if he let her walk out the door…

Thinking of the maps and charts and other assorted stolen property lying on his table, Jack made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat as he strode forward. He reached out to take a rough hold of the monkey – a grimace of distaste marring his face – but the monkey saw him coming. Hissing and screeching in protest it launched itself off Winn's shoulder and disappeared into the chaotic mess of sailors outside the doors.

Winn turned to find Jack with his hand raised near his face, as if he'd snatched it back before he could be bitten. Her raised eyebrows said "Yes you are," but what came out of her mouth was quite different. "Thank you for your assistance, Captain Sparrow."

He looked at her for a moment, judging the sincerity of her words. He must have decided that her thanks were genuine – or perhaps weren't meaningful enough to quibble over – for he dismissed the matter by turning on his heel and walking over to the table where he carelessly gathered his papers together.

"Have a seat." Jack didn't mean for the words to sound so much like an order, but Winn was being so accommodating that he didn't know how else to act. And Winn, upon hearing the order, had to bite her tongue to keep from saying that she'd rather stand. She was going to be cooperative for as long as she could manage.

_Elizabeth seems to think that he's capable of being reasonable,_ she reminded herself as she came to the table and took the offered chair.

_Elizabeth has a romantic and unrealistic concept of pirates,_ the cynical side of her brain shot back. Not to mention her impetuous friend had the advantage of time and a happy ending to wear away some of the…less pleasant aspects of her sojourn aboard the _Black Pearl._ Undoubtedly she was quite pleased with the results of her adventure.

"You let me get away with it on the _Kestrel,_ you know," she said suddenly, drawing his gaze to her. "The insubordination. You hardly set a precedent for behavior."

"Didn't think I needed to," he muttered. He'd known from the moment he'd set eyes on her that Winn would never back down from a verbal exchange, but he hadn't anticipated things getting as out of control as they had.

"Can you blame me?"

The thinly concealed annoyance in her voice made Jack's answer easy to give.

"Yes."

_Oh. Well._ Holding tight to the conviction that she was _not_ going to rise to his bait, Winn reached out and pulled a stray map towards her. "The Indian Ocean. Planning to take a long voyage?"

"Why? Should I?" Jack asked sharply, wondering if he was somehow being led into admitting something he'd rather not.

"Oh, I'd highly consider it if I were you. Of course, if I were you, I'd drop me off at the closest civilized port before going on your merry way."

No, she wasn't trying to trap him. She was simply trying to put an amicable face on her irritation. "See, luv, this temper of yours is what we need to talk about."

"Oh?" Innocence wasn't even pretended as Winn injected a good dose of danger into the word. Yes, she was trying to be more cooperative, was trying to be more respectful of the position Sparrow held if not of the man himself. But if he thought she was going to sit through a lecture from _him_ of all people…

Jack, true to form, ignored all warning signs. "As someone who regularly finds himself in trouble –"

"Do tell." Winn leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. With her chin propped up on her hand, she stared at him with mock intensity. "Please, share your _vast_ wisdom."

Jack stopped and _looked _at her. The slight smirk on Winn's face made him wonder if she and the monkey had somehow entered into an unholy alliance. She simply had too much confidence. Of course, he'd always found confidence attractive…

Pushing those thoughts out of his head for a more convenient time – they might as well be saved for later since they apparently weren't going to go away no matter how much he ignored them – Jack stood and circled around the table, coming up behind Winn. Before she could twist around to face him, he rested his hands on her shoulders, to all intents pinning her in place. "Winnie, Winnie, Winnie," he sighed. "What am I going to have to do to prove my sincerity to you?"

Winn felt her breath catch in her throat when he touched her. "Not crowding me would be a good start," she said faintly.

"Oh, no," Jack tsked. "This isn't crowding. This…" he said as he stepped forward so that he was pressed up against her back. "_This_ is crowding."

_Oh…my…_ Winn tried to bolt, but the grip on her shoulders suddenly became unbreakable. She slammed back into her seat, completely surrounded by Jack – his heat, his scent, his hair which brushed against her shoulders and arms – as his fingers started massaging tense muscles. Shivers chased up and down her spine as he leaned down and murmured in her ear.

"You should know that all your resistance is achieving is to tempt me into giving my curiosity leeway."

It took her a moment to puzzle out the meaning of his words through the confusion his touch was stirring up. And once he understood his words, she didn't know whether she should be afraid or furious. "What curiosity?"

Jack smirked in turn as he heard the breathy tone in Winn's voice. Yes, she might be extraordinarily brave and unusually strong-willed, but she was still a woman. And the day that he couldn't momentarily distract a woman with sly, underhanded tactics was the day he hung up his hat.

"I wonder just how far all that hot-blooded passion of yours will take you before you become yielding and compliant, for example. Or how far you could tempt me to match you."

No man should be able to make two such vague statements so explicit. And she hated him for appealing to that reckless, hotheaded part of her that had done nothing so far to improve her situation.

"Please," she whispered as she choked on his very nearness.

"Please what, luv?" While Winn had been lost to her thoughts, Jack had taken the opportunity to do some sight-seeing. The skin below her ear looked delightfully soft and the curling wisps of dark hair that'd fallen out of the bundled mass at her neck seemed to have been placed there with the sole intention of –

"Stop."

"What?" That wasn't what he'd been expecting.

"Please…I don't want this."

No, he'd expected it, he'd just been hoping she'd lost her mind. Now, what had driven him to this in the first place? _Ah, yes._

"Then I suggest you stop challenging me at every turn, Winnie."

"Threats, Captain Sparrow?" She didn't sound afraid. Just very, very uncertain.

"Far from it. Being unable to resist a challenge has always been my principal failing."

"I challenge you?" she whispered. Funny, she'd never gotten that feeling from him. Perhaps she was more aware of the control he had over her than he was. Of course, seeing as how she was the one at a disadvantage, that would probably be true.

"Constantly." Jack reluctantly backed away.

Instead of ignoring him and accepting the retreat he was providing for them both, Winn turned and met his eyes. He looked the way she felt, as if there was something dangerous in the room with them. _Think of something safe to say,_ her mind screamed at her.

"Why…?" Winn watched Jack's eyes flare as she dampened her lips with the tip of her tongue.

"Capt'n!"

She let out a very long sigh as Sparrow tore his gaze from her and looked to the still-open door. He walked over to have a discussion with the sailor named Gibbs. Winn watched them for a moment – the older man was excited about something – then folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them. Sudden exhaustion washed over her. She didn't want to think about how long those doors had been open, or who might have seen what must have appeared as an intimate moment, or her own unwanted vulnerability to Sparrow and his –

_ -Tap, tap, tap-_ Winn opened one eye as someone poked her repeatedly in the shoulder. "Can I help you?"

"Now _there's_ an interesting inquiry. Unfortunately, I don't have time to take you up on it." Jack watched as Winn closed her eye again, apparently dismissing him. "I wouldn't suggest sleeping here again."

"Mmm? …oh. What has everyone so excited?"

"Two pinks and a sloop. Com'on, lass." He groaned as he levered her out of the chair. "You weren't this heavy last night."

"Watch yourself, Sparrow," Winn shot back. She roused herself enough to stand on her own. "I don't suppose you'd consider allowing me to make a change in berths since you're going to take the trouble to intercept these other ships anyway."

"Now, that would hardly be responsible of me."

"And you always take such care to be responsible."

"Let me put it this way, Winnie luv; you can stay here with a man who _does_ take care not to mistreat the distaff side of the species – well, not a lot – or you could take your chances with an unknown captain, a male who might not be so generous as yours truly."

She glowered at him. He had a point. The sea wasn't all that was cruel to sailors; the captains who navigated it had a reputation for brutality as well. It was one of the main reasons aside from greed that crews would mutiny and turn pirate…to escape ghastly conditions. Also, she could just see what her grandfather would say. There was a reason he only allowed her to sail with captains he'd handpicked.

"Now," Jack continued as if they were merely having a pleasant conversation, "there _is_ the possibility that this little convoy won't surrender near as neatly as your ship did. In which case, should firing commence, I would recommend getting down on the floor behind that sea-locker over there. Should stop most of the sharp things that might pierce your lovely skin."

"Wonderful."

"Then we've reached an agreement." Sparrow's grin was just as false as her approval had been. "Ta."

Winn watched him leave with a sense of relief. It had been getting harder and harder to hold her tongue in his presence. And truthfully… _He scares me._ No, that wasn't true. He made her scared of herself. When she was around him, she felt as if she were capable of anything. After complaining about a rather staid existence it seemed ironic to be afraid of action.

"Well, not even I can sleep through a raid," she murmured to herself as she looked around the cabin. Her books held no appeal, the seas were just a little too choppy for drawing, her music was something that was purely for her own pleasure… _And I don't even want to **think** about Sparrow. So now what?_ Her eye caught on the mess of papers that the good captain had hastily stowed when she'd entered the room.

_Curiosity killed the cat… _

_ …and satisfaction brought it back again,_ she thought cheerfully as she grabbed the bundle and plopped it on the table. _If he didn't want me to see them, he would have locked them – or me – up._

It wasn't until several hours later that Winn found the one map that Jack had actually been trying to hide. And when she did…

_That's not Grandmama's handwriting,_ she thought in dismay as she looked at the scribbles in one corner._ He's been trying to figure out where it is. That…**that**…_

All thoughts of keeping the peace were forgotten.

* * *

Jack was in the midst of overseeing the revels of his crew – the convoy they'd intercepted had been carrying a cargo of sugar and spices – when the doors of his cabin slammed open. He immediately remembered Winn. All conciliatory smiles, he spun around, thinking – hoping – that perhaps his guest had simply gotten tired of waiting to be fed.

Winn was wearing a smile herself, though hers was brittle. As she watched without amusement, Sparrow's smile became a frown and he quickly put the helm between them. She just showed more teeth in a grin that was becoming more bloodthirsty by the moment.

"Captain Sparrow."

"Aye?" She had that look in her eye, the one all women who were about to slap him had.

"You have my deepest thanks." For once Winn was the hunter and she enjoyed the role as she stalked Jack around the helm.

"No need," he tried to bluff. "You know I'd never –" He stopped short as she held up a very wrinkled sheet of parchment folded so his own handwriting was prominent. _Bugger. Bugger, bugger, bugger._

"Why, I thought I'd lost it," Winn drawled in a sugary sweet voice. "It was a gift from my grandmother. Imagine how _relieved_ I was when I found it…buried under every single chart you own…and a few you've no doubt stolen. I can only assume that you were making sure that a sudden gust of wind…in your cabin…didn't blow it away. Why, there's just no words that can express my gratitude for your thoughtfulness."

The crew, in their drunken state, started calling out ways that she could "express her gratitude" without words. Jack winced as the woman before him grew red with fury. After their crudeness it was only polite to allow Winn to back him into the railing. As long as they both kept their voices down, the crew would never know that he was doing whatever he had to do to calm her. Because he'd come to the conclusion – upon finding that he probably _could_ have safely left Winn on the ship the _Pearl_ had raided that afternoon – that he liked having her around.

"Now, Winnie, I can explain…"

"I very much doubt that you could do so to my satisfaction." She walked right up to him and braced her hands on the rail on either side of his body.

He swallowed hard as most of her lean body was pressed up against his. It was unfortunate that she was so livid that she was using her body as a weapon, otherwise this would have been enjoyable. Well, enjoyable for them both. Jack was enjoying himself even though he knew he was on the brink of perhaps mortal danger.

"Winnie –"

Her arm snapped up and – because he'd been watching for it – Jack caught her wrist an instant before she would have made contact. _She doesn't mess around,_ he thought as he eyed the fist just inches from his cheek. He was finally starting to believe in these brothers she claimed to have. That had been a nearly professional right hook. Of course, if she _did_ have these brothers, then she was still likely reining in her temper because there were other parts of his anatomy that were much more delicate than his face, and she was refraining from using such…low blows.

He looked down at her, seeing her anger but seeing Winn as well. She was a mess, her coat of dignity in shards around her feet, her hair falling out of its knot and tumbling around her face and shoulders. In her anger she met his eyes steadily, hiding none of her emotions. Perhaps it was the forest green tunic she was wearing, or perhaps it was her fury, but her eyes had taken on an aqua tinge. Her cheeks were rosy, her lips slightly parted as she struggled to free herself from the iron grip he usually reserved for guiding the _Pearl_ through tropical storms. At the moment she reminded him of nothing so much as a wounded cat but he knew all about the self-confidence and courage that had led her out here to challenge him in full view of his men.

After all, he had it too.

_I warned her. _

_ I **want** her._

"You had no right," she accused with the breathlessness of anger, ignorant to the brilliant rays of sun that were shooting through the clouds that'd been gathering all day, to the catcalls of the men on the lower deck, and to what she was stirring in her counterpart. "You're nothing more than a bully and a two-bit thief." Intensity made her voice soft; it didn't carry beyond the two of them.

Jack responded in kind, as he let some of his control slide. "You really think you can take me on, luv? Do you want to test that theory in sight of heaven and hands?"

Winn blinked as Jack's rough voice rasped against her anger. Doubt and common sense slowly made their way to the forefront of her mind. She'd thrown down a challenge but the one he was returning was…different. It was offering a fight that she didn't have the experience to win.

"I understand you're acting out of vexation so I don't blame you for not noticin' that you have no sword, no allies, and no advantages. But if you're still set on this course after I've pointed that out, then I'll oblige you." He saw the caution bloom in her eyes, felt how her body relaxed as she prepared to choose the more rational alternative. _Not __yet, little cat._ He lowered his head so that his lips were nearer to her ear. "Backing down so soon? Did I shake your confidence? Perhaps after a few private lessons with me you'd find it easier to gain the satisfaction you seem to be demanding."

She'd been ready to yield until he made that egotistical, chauvinistic remark. Once again straining against his hold she hissed, "You bring the swords and I'll gladly meet you in _private_, Captain." It hurt, but she jerked free of his hold and turned away in disgust, too upset with a single man to notice that several dozen more were watching her as she appeared to hurry back to the captain's cabin.

Jack stared after her, an odd, lazy smirk on his face. He was uncertain if he should be aroused or concerned for his well-being. She'd been prepared to call a truce until he'd fired that last salvo and shoved at the triggers most guaranteed to ignite her temper to get what he wanted. Then she'd been completely dauntless. Well, she'd been dauntless since she'd set foot on his ship, but –

"Jack?"

"Aye?" He didn't spare Gibbs a glance. Winn hadn't gone far enough inside the cabin to disappear from sight and he could see her taking down her hair.

"You're not going to –"

"Master Gibbs, I'd be much obliged if you would retrieve Mistress Winn's sword from storage and deliver it to my cabin."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Capt'n?"

Jack was silent for several moments before looked away from Winn and met the older man's eyes. "No. But it promises to be entertaining." With that, Jack purposely stepped forward and walked toward his cabin and the woman waiting for him inside.

* * *

**Author's Note II – weigh in:** what do you think? Too much initial attraction between these two? I mean, Jack is attracted to anything female with two legs or a set of sails… I'm trying to keep Winn on the "what the smeep is wrong with me" track, but let me know if there's just too much. I'm wondering, so to me that may be a sign that yes, I need to pull it back a bit. But I respect all of you too. 

**Author's Thanks:** thanks and irritable flamingos to **Cayenne Pepper Powder** (I needed to get Winn alone with her thoughts for awhile, thus, the brig. In ignoring her surroundings, she couldn't ignore herself. Rather ingenious of me, if I do say so, but it wasn't really my idea. It's just a future scene popped in here because that's where it should really go. I'm constructing a story this time instead of flowing with a story. It's exciting.); **Dawnie-7** (Your comment about Jack having the map reminded me to add something to this chapter that I'd been meaning to. I had Winn all upset about Jack having the map – and this after she's admitted he _is_ a pirate, and is unlikely to do anything at all that she likes – and I couldn't figure out why. Having him actively pursuing a family heirloom was the little detail I needed. It was only two sentences, but I would have forgotten to add it if I hadn't been doing my thanks. So thanks for the reminder.); **Tess** (Oh good. Glad you loved the chapter. It's always kinda iffy when you're rewriting a story, because someone is bound to love it the way it was better. Here's this chapter, the next is about 20 done, but at the rate I've been going, it shouldn't take long to finish. Woo-hoo!); **CaptainTish** (I'd always intended to put the book scene in later when Winn had found her footing a bit. It's a really good scene, but she was being a little unreasonably confident when pirates were invading her ship the first time around. But it's there for you too. ;P The scene in Tortuga where Jack is going, "I know what I want, I know what I want," under his breath was the inspiration for his version of yes, counting to ten. The brig scene – I know, aren't I smart? Huh, huh:P Yes, I'm keeping its bookend. I'm in a really good mood. grin); **Defina** (Infuriatingly is a word. And very apt when describing Jack. I'm glad you're reading my stories. New screen names on reviews always make me grin. And in this case, spurred me to update. What say you to that?)


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Thanks to this site's semi-recent decision regarding in-chapter replies to reviews, I'm going to have to stop replying to you all at the end of each chapter. For those of you who sign in to give reviews, I can reply through the link given with the review. For those of you who reply anonymously, I'll continue replying here for another few chapters, but I encourage you to register with the site so your reviews aren't anonymous. That or you can go to my author's page and e-mail me and I can reply that way because I respect the time you take to let me know what you think, and I love to return the favor.

As you can see, I have once again changed the title of this story. I'm finally satisfied, and it won't be changing again.

Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Despite all his protestations to the contrary, Jack actually did have _some_ morals when it came to women. Not a lot, but one or two. Like not hitting a girl who slapped you (whether it was deserved or not), or not taking advantage of a drunk woman unless you were drunk too in which case you couldn't _really_ be held accountable for your actions or hers. Normally those morals would lead him to avoid getting into a physical fight with a female, but this wasn't truly a fight. This was…interest. This was finding out if Winn could match him in other areas as well. He had no intention of actually allowing blood to be spilled. By either party. Unless she was extraordinarily good, then he had too many advantages – reach, height, weight, experience – to permit things to get out of hand.

Following Winn into the cabin, Jack took a seat at the table and took a sip from the bottle of rum in his hand that had gone unnoticed for the past few minutes. He sat unnoticed, watching her. She was sitting with her back to him, leaving him free to admire the silhouette she made. Whether she meant to or not, Winn was putting on quite a show as she took all the remaining pins out of her tumbling mass of hair. Placing them in a tin, she produced a strip of fabric from somewhere and used it to tie her hair back out of her face. Her movements were smooth, unconsciously graceful. All she was doing was what she needed to prepare herself and he was allowing it to seduce him.

Winn knew he was in the room. It would have been hard to miss him since sea-boots weren't the quietest of shoes. But she ignored him as best she could. Being around him was like being on a ship sailing rough seas. Up and down, up and down…her emotions were out of control and from the sound of liquid sloshing, looking at him now was only going to make her start thinking things like, _I hope you choke_.

After removing her boots and stockings, she went about fastening her pant legs around her ankles with more long cotton strips. The last thing she needed to do was catch her foot in her own clothes. The strips bound her pants to her legs from ankle to mid-shin.

_T__here's was only a very slim chance that I'm going to be able to beat Sparrow._ She was aware of the advantages his bigger frame gave him, and she also knew what she herself was capable of. Even though she'd been taught how to fight by men who were bigger than herself, she'd only achieved a level of competency. Of course, that was her grandfather's standpoint and _his_ school of thought had grown up around the knowledge that his skill was the only thing standing between him and death. _A view a **pirate** is likely to share._ The life was often short and violent, and those who couldn't defend themselves died.

_He's drunk, _she reminded herself, thinking of the reek of alcohol that had surrounded him on deck. _And I want a victory more than he does. _Still, under the circumstances, the best she could actually hope for was a draw.

Glancing over her shoulder at Jack, Winn straightened her legs and started stretching. It had been at least two months since she'd done any real sword-fighting. Closing her eyes, she touched her forehead to her right knee and attempted to come up with some kind of strategy.

_Don't get distracted. Sparrow likes to talk, and he'll undoubtedly do so as we're fighting. Ignore it. Try to win quickly. This is going to be crude fighting. Chopping and hacking. No fancy stuff, no polite rules. And if it all boils down to brute strength, things will be over rather quickly. So…_

While Winn occupied herself with plans, Jack was enjoying the sight of her hair hanging down. Loose, it reached midway down her back. He always enjoyed a female with hair longer than his.

The minutes passed quickly, and soon Gibbs was standing uncertainly just inside the cabin, Winn's sword in his hands. "Jack –" he tried to protest half-heartedly.

"That'll be all, mate. Sleep tight, sweet dreams, don't let the bedbugs bite and all that." Jack exchanged the bottle of rum for the sword as he tried to hurry Gibbs out the door, an act which seemed to placate the man.

_Sold out for half a bottle of rum,_ Winn thought unrepentantly as she watched Jack carefully. Until he handed over the weapon, he had an advantage she couldn't truly hope to defy. Not that she wouldn't try, but she was getting tired of feeling frustrated.

Jack unsheathed Winn's sword, surprised at its weight and appearance; it was a very utilitarian weapon. Still, the balance was decent, and she likely needed the weight to make up for her opponent's greater strength. And it wasn't as if a lighter sword would be easy to find. Weapons intended for serious carnage weren't usually made to be held by a weakling.

"Still want to do this, lass?" he asked, feeling worse and worse about things by the moment. Swords were hardly toys. This could end badly even if they were both of a mind to be cautious.

"What would you suggest instead, Captain?" Winn asked as she rose to her feet. "Endearments at twenty paces?"

"That's what I love about you, Winnie. Your wonderful sense of humor."

"Are we going to fight, or are we going to talk? You may excel at the latter but you seem hesitant to do the former. Odd, considering after all that you _are_ a pirate."

"And you, to all appearances …well, you haven't appeared so since I've laid eyes on you, actually…but you are a lady…even if your behavior has been quite suspect...though you _do_ act as if you're accustomed to being obeyed which seems to be one of the hallmarks of a lady…" Jack came to a stumbling sort of halt as he mumbled his points under his breath and ticked them off on his fingers. "Yes. The point of which being that a fight between us is unnecessary."

"Oh, that's what the point was. I thought you had given up on the insulting endearments and just moved on to insults."

"See, here you are looking for ulterior motives again because that wasn't what I had in mind at all," Jack crooned as he slid the sword back into its sheath. "Tell you what: I'll hand this over, no strings attached, for you to have and to hold –"

"Gifting me with my own belongings," Winn interrupted cynically. "You really know how to woo a woman."

"I could keep it."

"Sparrow…"

Jack's eyes bugged. He hadn't heard anyone use that tone of voice with him since… "Here you go."

"Thank you." Winn accepted her sword and unwrapped the belt from where it'd been twisted up out of the way around the sheath. She saw the admiration in Jack's eyes as she smoothly strapped the belt around her waist, but was unaware that the cause was how the leather gathered her loose clothing close to her body.

_Winnie has hips_, Jack thought as he searched for lost threads of their conversation. "…as I was saying, you have your sword, I have mine, and we can now sit down and have a reasonable discussion like two adults."

_He is so very…optimistic…_ Here he was, staring blatantly enough at her that she had to glance down to see what was so fascinating – _Oh, no longer cloaked, right…_ – and he sounded as if he'd solved all the world's problems. Really, there was no way to stay mad in the face of such good cheer, or at least _she_ didn't seem able to sustain her hostility. _I have to act before he makes me start **laughing**._

"How could we do that when only one of us in this room is an adult?" Feeling as if she were playing a game, Winn took meandering steps towards him. When she noticed where his eyes were focused, she added a bit of a swing to her hips. _I can't do it. I can't do this and not laugh._ Was it possible that Sparrow could be so easily manipulated? It hadn't occurred to her to use the same tactics on him that he used to such great effect with her.

"Are you attempting to insinuate that I'm not…fully grown?" _She knows exactly what she's doing._ That realization only increased his admiration. Winn had been so proper and…rigid…that he never would have guessed that she could thaw enough to move like that.

His voice was rough again. Well, it was always rough, but sometimes it got a bit more gravely. _Use it as a barometer, Freddie! Not as a…a complement,_ she scolded herself as she slowly circled around behind Sparrow. He permitted it, apparently waiting for her reply. "A fully grown two-year-old," she managed to say with a hint of scorn. "That explains, of course, why you're constantly taking things that don't belong to you."

"Ah, but you're the one who won't share." Jack moved an arm so he could touch her as she reached his side.

"That's something you have no right to." Winn twitched out of easy reach of his hand when he would have slid it behind her. But she was hardly out of range as she came back to stand in front of him. Tempting Sparrow probably wasn't smart, but for once she felt like she was _winning._ "Just like my map."

"Share and share alike. I let you have bed all to your onesies and you begrudge me the tiniest _peek_ at a chart I've never seen before –"

"I can't prove it, but I wasn't alone in that bed last night. Was I, Captain Sparrow?" He was leaning in towards her and she tipped her head back…not to tease but because his breath smelled like rum. "And I don't think it's unreasonable of me to get upset when people attempt to steal heirlooms of my family."

"Is that a polite way of informing me that you still want my head?" Jack murmured.

"Your head?" He moved closer. Winn's heart was beating so fast that it would have been hard to explain the difference between this and a sword fight if she were asked at that moment. _Stay focused. Stay focused._ "No." Jack's only warning was a smile that revealed far too many white teeth. "I'd settle for your blood."

"Bugger!" For a moment Jack didn't connect the stinging on his arm to Winn's words. He swatted the spot, expecting to find some kind of vicious blood-sucking insect…but found Winn's hand instead. He grabbed it before she could fully withdraw, examining what she held in her fingers before meeting her eyes with a narrowed gaze.

"Well," she said before he could ask about the pin in her hand. "We both know it's unlikely that my skills with a blade were up to snuff. To my grandfather's expressed disappointment, I've been a lazy student."

"So you decided to attack me with a hair pin?" Jack asked incredulously as he plucked the tiny piece of metal from her fingers.

"Hat pin, actually. As I said, it was unlikely that I'd actually _win_. But a draw I could manage."

"You –" Jack rubbed his still stinging arm. "What the devil…? I'm bleeding."

_Did he not see the size of that pin?_ "Then I must be satisfied." He looked so taken aback that Winn couldn't hold herself – or her laughter – back any longer.

Jack stared down at her in disbelief as with the giggle, she turned it all – all the heat, all the promise, all that languid invitation – turned it all off. And apparently expected him to do the same. Oh, it was a nice giggle to be sure, clear and bright and easily muffled as she tried to regain her composure. Yet it killed Jack all the same. _Not experienced then. Merely observant._ Any woman with experience would have had enough awareness of the expectation lingering in the room to keep from laughing. _This __won't do._

"Satisfied, are you?" He noticed that she had no problem silencing her giggles when his fingers brushed against her throat. "Well, I suppose that's fair, considering I wasn't the first to spill blood. Still, I think I deserve some compensation."

"What kind of 'compensation?'" she asked suspiciously. He'd pulled his hand back as soon as he'd gotten her attention, but Winn didn't trust the look in his eyes. He was looking…confident. Like he knew something she didn't."

"A kiss should do it –"

"I thought you weren't a two-year-old, Captain." Winn hoped she'd been able to hide her alarm, but she doubted it.

She hadn't. But Jack was pleased she'd picked up on enough to _be_ alarmed. "– but I'd settle for having you tend to my injuries."

"There's more than one now?"

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to soothe my ego."

Winn pursed her lips as she looked down at the floor. His _ego_ didn't need to know that she wanted to laugh again. "I suppose you expect the same courtesy that you showed me."

"Uh…" He hadn't ever done anything to tend to her scratch after making such a fuss about it, had he? "No."

"I didn't think so." Winn sighed. "I don't suppose you'll go away if I ignore you."

"Seems unlikely considering this is my ship."

Winn thought about it for a moment. It wouldn't take much more than a smear of ointment to fulfill his terms. "Alright. Come here."

She went to one of the trunks that'd been shoved up against the wall and removed her small chest of medical supplies. "Have a seat," she directed, pointing at the closed lid of her other trunk.

Jack did as he was told, choosing not to ruin this rare moment of peace with a smart remark – though it was really hard because something about her kneeling in front of him was begging to be said – and rolled up his sleeve, careful to keep the burn scar on his arm hidden. He'd seen the shock on Elizabeth Swann's face when he'd showed it to her. She and Winn were comparably brave, so there was really no need to risk her reaction.

"That's what you're complaining about?" The tiny spot of smeared blood was almost indistinguishable against his tanned skin. "It's already closed up."

"Oh, but it hurts something terrible."

She looked at him, huffed, and placed the jar she'd been holding back in the chest. "Pain, is it?" She pulled out a small glass vial and held it up to the light. "Is this…?" Muttering under her breath, she pulled out the cork and delicately sniffed the liquid. "Good. You arm please?" When Jack refused to extend his arm she sighed again. Stoppering the vial with one finger, she shook it, then carefully placed it aside.

Jack watched as Winn rose to her knees and bowed her head over his arm. He couldn't see what she was doing, but he felt it when she rubbed one damp finger over the sting – it really did hurt – in a soothing circular motion. "Chamomile and feverfew, if you were wondering," she informed him. "Good for insect stings, bites from small animals, and the occasional prick."

_Bite your tongue, Jack._ She made it so _easy_ for him, but he kept his mouth shut. It was too nice to have her touch him without an ulterior motive of her own to ruin the moment with a glib comment.

"Better?" She looked up and met his eyes, her face clear of irritation for once.

_Much._ "Still hurts."

"Baby," she murmured. He was watching her again. She wasn't sure how to explain the difference, but watching wasn't the same as looking, and he was definitely watching. Her cheeks flushed – perhaps _that_ was the difference – and looked back down. "I think you'll live."

"I think I need a bandage."

"What's wrong, Captain? Your crew doesn't pamper you enough so you have to abduct strangers to get the attention you desire?"

_Yes._ He noticed she didn't argue as she reached for a roll of unused bandages. "No, I want this one." He tugged her hair tie free, watching avidly as her hair slowly spread out around her shoulders.

"It's not clean," she protested.

_And I don't need it._ "Neither am I." Jack awkwardly tried to single-handedly wrap the cloth around his arm.

"Oh for…give me that." Winn snatched the tie from his hand before grabbing his wrist. The pads of her fingers met raised, silky skin. _He's been burned. _ She met his eyes; they were hooded now, hiding what he was thinking. _Someone made him ashamed of it. _"A sailor who bears signs of battle," she murmured for him, knowing he was waiting for some kind of response. "How unremarkable." Quickly she tied the makeshift bandage around his arm before standing; the seas had only gotten rougher since that afternoon and she overbalanced.

Jack caught her by the arm, holding on until she steadied herself and pulled it back. Her fingers tangled in her hair for a moment, then started to nervously twist a lock.

"My thanks, Captain."

Jack let her close the door on the subject, choosing to roll down the sleeve of his shirt now that she was no longer tending to him. Now that he wasn't so focused on what was happening inside the cabin he noticed the rain that was pounding down outside.

"Sound like we're in for a rough night." He addressed the room in general as he retrieved his coat. "I'd best rouse the crew to make the necessary preparations."

"Of course."

Jack glanced at her as he fastened the buttons on his coat, but didn't say anything else before he left the room.

Cold, wet air swirled around the room in the brief moments that the door was open. Then the door shut, leaving Winn alone with the sound of the wind, the rain, of creaking timbers, and her troubled thoughts.

She was relieved and didn't know why.

* * *

_-SLAM- _

_ -Creeeerrkkk…SLAM- _

_ -Creeeerrkkk…SLAM- _

_ -Creeeerrkkk…SLAM- _

Winn jerked upright in the bed. As the night had worn on, she'd wedged herself into a corner and tried to read. The motion of the ship when combined with the flickering light and stationary words had started to make her seasick though. Since she had nothing better to do, she'd lied down and worried herself to sleep – but not over the storm. Sparrow was a competent sailor if nothing else and she'd sailed through bad storms twice before. What she worried about was Sparrow himself, how he seemed to see her as something she wasn't sure she was and about how she was starting to feel comfortable around him when just yesterday she'd wanted to physically harm him.

_ -Creeeer-e-e-r-rkkk…SLAM- _

Cold air made her shiver and pull the blankets tighter around her shoulders. Why hadn't Sparrow done something to allow his door to be secured from the inside? _He's the captain. If there's a storm, he's out in it middle of it, not sitting around in here._ And perhaps no one else had spent enough time in this room to complain about it.

_-Cree…creer-e-e-r-r…- _

Or perhaps the people who had spent enough time in here would have barred the door against Sparrow. Yes, that was more likely.

-_SLAM!-_

"What are these lanterns doing lit?" Jack grumbled as he appeared inside the room along with a strong blast of wind.

"I'm sorry. I fell asleep." Winn froze with an apologetic look on her face when Jack whirled around to face her. "I'm sorry. I do know better." He said nothing. "I'll get them."

"No. No, it's alright." Jack would have reached up to wipe the rain out of his eyes, but his arms were too tired. "I'll get them when I leave." He was here for brief rest only, to grab some dried fruit and jerky before heading back out.

"At least you don't smell like roses anymore?" Winn offered, trying somehow to apologize for something she really did know better than to do. But Jack just grunted. _Go…give him something to dry off with. _"Is it as bad out there as it feels?" she asked as she made to move off the bunk.

"Don't get out of bed. No point for us both to be cold and wet." Once he was sure that she was going to listen, he turned his back on her and started digging through a low cupboard for what he wanted. "We've caught the tail end of a tropical storm."

"Does it show any signs of letting up soon?"

Jack sat down with his rations, not bothering to shed coat or hat. He was soaked down to the skin. Why take off something he'd just have to struggle back into? "No."

Winn stayed quiet after that, allowing Jack to eat in peace. He looked exhausted. Battling to keep a ship this size sailing with the waves instead of against them was no easy task.

"How long have you –"

"Not long enough." Jack didn't mean to be short with her, but he didn't have the time or the energy to be charming.

When he snapped at her, Winn felt the urge to snap back. It was either that or hide under the blankets, nursing injured feelings. _He's tired. Give him some slack._ "You know, I'm not just any passenger."

"Unless you're about to tell me that you can control the weather, stow it for later."

_Take a deep breath, Winn._ "That's not what I meant, Captain. I wasn't trying to bully information out of you."

"That's good of you."

_He's cold. He's wet. _"I don't think you're in a position to turn down an extra pair of hands."

"I certainly am." Jack stood. She was using the patient voice. The one women pulled out when they thought they knew how to do something better than the way a man was doing it. Well, he wasn't going to get into _that_ argument.

His obvious dismissal didn't stop her. "You don't exactly have a young crew, Sparrow, and I –"

"And you're likely blow away in the first stiff breeze," he said flatly. "You're staying here." Jack caught sight of the mutinous light in Winn's eyes, and it chilled him. It wasn't that she would dare defy him; he was just fine with that. What scared him was that she seemed more than willing to risk her neck.

"Let me rephrase that," he snarled as he prowled over to the bed. "You dare set one _toe_ outside this cabin and I'll have you thrown in the brig and left there."

_He's tired. He has to go back to work._ Rationalizing his actions wasn't doing much to soothe her temper anymore, but she kept a rein on it…in an effort to make him see reason. "You did that once already today –"

"Without a light," he amended as he leaned forward and planted his fists to either side of her hips, willing to use physical intimidation…if it'd help him make her see reason. "I mean it, Winifred."

"Why?" she demanded.

Jack looked down at her. He'd only just kept his jaw from dropping. Why? He was looking out for her well-being and she wanted to know _why?_

Silently, he pointed his finger at her as he tried to find words that would convince her. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. That's the only 'why' you need. _Stay **put**_."

He left the cabin and was instantly deafened by the howl of the wind. The urge to follow up on his orders by making it impossible for Winn to leave the safety of the cabin was strong, but the storm had cleared the deck of all debris. There wasn't a spare piece of rope in sight and before he had time to do more than consider sending someone to track one down, there was a tearing sound from high above.

"Capt'n! The t'gallant!"

Jack cursed as he tried to shield his eyes from the rain. In the dark it was hard to tell what'd happened, but somehow one of the sails had come unfurled and was cracking angrily in the wind. And not just any sail. Of course it had to be the main topgallant that'd broken free of its lines. The only cloth higher up was the ship's colors and it wasn't flying.

He had a split second to decide what to do. He could send men up into the rigging in a bid to salvage the sail. One could only hope that none would fall because there'd be no retrieving them if they did. The only other option was to allow the sail to hang free and be ripped to shreds.

Not a difficult choice then, but one made easier by the _Kestrel's _contribution the day before. They could afford to replace a sail.

"Leave it! Keep the pumps going!"

* * *

_If I go out now, I'll just distract him from his work. _

Winn couldn't fall back to sleep. She'd upset Jack so much that he'd forgotten to blow out the lanterns before he'd left. They were out now because she'd crept out of bed long enough to blow them out. So now her feet were cold, and she couldn't drown out the sound of the slamming door, or the storm, or the faint voices of the men outside fighting it.

_He's wrong. I could be of use._ Winn _knew_ ships. She's spent time on them as a hand. She'd studied their design. And even if Sparrow didn't want her on deck, he could have at least used her help below. They _had_ to be running their pumps in conditions like this. Yes, it was wet, miserable work, but she hated that she was being treated like a useless passenger when she could be of use elsewhere. And it wasn't if any of the men would have the time to harass her.

_Forget it._ She angrily sat up and pounded her pillow a few times before flopping down on her side. _He said to stay here. He's obviously concerned about where his funds will come from if his "investment" gets swept overboard, and I'm not all that eager to drown._ It was just that she was used to being taken seriously. Even Ryan – her oldest and most over-protective brother – had allowed her to work the pumps when the _Kingfisher_ had run into foul weather.

The door slammed yet again, driving Winn out of bed. If she wasn't going to sleep, then she might as well get dressed. And because she was cold, she put on her storm boots and searched her trunks for the coat she'd taken from the servants' stores back home. Her own had been full of holes and her sewing skills were so abysmal that she hadn't wanted to deal with patching it before she'd left. She sat down at the table and parted her hair, unconsciously preparing to put it into the two braids that'd be more effective at keeping it out of her face in the wind.

_I'm not some useless passenger,_ she fumed to herself as she tied the first braid off and started on the second. _And I refuse to be a prisoner. I won't be less than who I am._

Winn's fingers froze as she thought about that. That was one sin she couldn't pin on Sparrow. She'd been the one acting in ways she'd long since grown out of. She'd admitted as much in the brig, but had she realized what it meant? Had she realized that her own temper was making her less than the person she'd become?

How she found herself standing in front of the doors with her hat on her head, Winn wasn't certain. But there was no question in her mind about what she was about to do. She was the granddaughter, the daughter, and the sister of captains. She'd go out, lend aid, and take the consequences without complaint.

It was who she was.

* * *

The _Black Pearl_ heeled sharply as a wave slammed into her side. Jack fought to right their course, but a large segment of the topgallant had torn away and tangled the flying jib, the one sail he'd been using to keep them moving with the waves. Without that small aid, they were in some rather serious trouble.

Winn emerged into this chaos and was instantly drenched. For a moment she stood just outside the doors of the cabin, giving her eyes time to adjust to the dark and the wind and the rain and the salt spray that was constantly being churned up. Perhaps it was because she was standing still and watching that she saw the moment the belaying pin was pulled out of its mooring by a rope that hadn't been properly secured. The wind caught it, effectively hurling it straight at Sparrow. She was in motion when she saw him stagger as he was hit, and in the next moment she was bracing him as another wave made the deck jump under them.

"Where were you hit!" she yelled over the wind.

His reply was a string of curses before he demanded, "What are you doing out here!"

_Not his head then._ But he _had_ been hit; he was gripping the wheel with only one hand. _Shoulder or arm then._ "How bad is it!"

"Go back inside!"

"Don't be stubborn!" She worked her way to his other side and wrapped both hands around two of the wheel's pegs. "Your men are busy freeing up the jib! You're hurt! You need help until one of them can get here!"

Jack growled under his breath as he worked the still-numb fingers of his left hand while his shoulder burned. She had a point, but he didn't have to like it. "You're going in as soon as –" The ship heeled again and he found himself wrapping his arm around her waist as she threw her weight into controlling the wheel. Unlike his own boots which gave a little even on the crosshatching of the deck, she remained relatively steady.

"How do you do that!"

"Do what?" Winn rested her shoulder against his side as she took a moment to better brace her legs.

"Not slip!"

She gifted him with a quick smile – as if she were enjoying throwing herself into a struggle with a miffed mother nature. "Tacks in the soles of my boots!" Because she was watching his right arm she was able to move with him without having to be told what to do.

"You're still going in!"

"Aye!"

* * *

It was another six hours before the storm passed them by…or perhaps it'd blown itself out. The rain and the wind were still fierce, but no longer threatening to ship or crew. Despite his earlier determination to get Winn inside at the first convenient moment, Jack found himself with an exhausted woman pressed against his side while around them came the hoarse shouts of tired men ensuring their vessel wouldn't sink under their feet.

"How's that shoulder?" she mumbled.

"Painful, but not life-threatening."

"Oh good." Talk about pain, her fingers were cramped from hours of clutching pegs that were too big to comfortably fit her hands. She hissed as she released her hold. "I take my leave of you, Captain."

Jack grabbed her arm before she could go. He should do as he'd threatened and have her thrown in the brig. He should throw her over his knee, for that matter, and punish her for disobeying a direct order. What he did was ask, "Why?" The irony of his repeating her earlier question didn't escape him…or her.

She quirked her lips and shrugged. "I had to. I couldn't sit by and be useless."

"You _had_ to. Are you sure about that, lass?" He didn't care that she was looking at him as if he had lost his mind. He needed to hear her answer.

"Yes."

Jack watched her walk away, barely noticing Gibbs as the man came up to stand beside him.

"She's trouble," Gibbs commented, not needing to ask about the dazed look in his captain's eyes. He'd seen for himself how Winn had worked at Jack's side for hours without complaint.

"Aye."

"Stouthearted though."

"Aye."

"You're not thinkin'…"

Jack slanted his eyes over at Gibbs, wondering what the significance of his silence was. "No, of course not." He didn't know what Gibbs was afraid of but he _was_ thinking what a shame it was to have an unattached yet untouchable female aboard ship…except now that he knew what she was capable of, he was a little leery of pursuing her. He'd never met one, but he'd heard about women who could break hearts.

"What are your orders, Capt'n?"

"Orders?" _Right…orders._ Jack forced his mind back to the matter at hand. "Any men lost?"

"No, sir."

Jack was silent as he considered his next move. The ship needed to be examined for damage; the crew needed food and rest. He had to determine where they were and a chart a course for the nearest friendly harbor.

The sound of waves penetrated Jack's exhausted mind. About half a mile off the port side there was the distinct wave pattern that indicated shoals. "Has anyone taken a reading?"

"Crocker is doing so as we speak."

"And the pumps?"

"Twenty men working them. I figured the others would be needed elsewhere."

"Drop anchor if the depth is right." Jack broke into sudden motion, Gibbs trailing behind. "Send half the crew through every deck of the ship to check for damage. Have the other half report to me. The sails need attention. Unless there's damage that has to be seen to immediately, everyone will take ten hours to recover before the real work begins."

"Aye, Capt'n. We'll have things ship-shape in no time."

* * *

**Reply to defina – **sign in, girl! Or register! Or e-mail me! You're the only one this time around who wasn't logged in. I absolutely love how everyone agreed that Jack will be Jack and there's no reining him in. It's great. And I agree that Winn needs to not be Jack and needs to be the one holding them back. The only time I worry about page amounts is when I feel as if I've written a great deal and communicated only a little. This chapter, kinda worried about that, but it was all needed for the _next_ chapter, so I think I'll let it pass. ;) 


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **umm…don't really have much to say for myself. Anticipating fingers being shaken in my direction for OOCness, but then, I'm just nervous. Honesty is greatly appreciated.

Here's a little something I looked up while I was bored – "Winifred" is a Teutonic name which means "friend of peace." How's that for ironic?

Thanks being sent to your e-mail boxes.

* * *

It'd been several hours since Jack had sent Winn to his quarters to dry off and warm up. Since then Jack had been busy overseeing his crew as they checked every inch of the ship for damage. Fortune had been with them this time; except for a few gun ports which were missing their hatches the hull was undamaged. The deck and lines needed the most work to be made functional, but there was nothing that couldn't be put off until everyone was fed and rested. Jack had come back to his quarters to do the same, expecting to find Winn sound asleep after all she'd been through. Surprisingly, she was awake – though barely – and had changed into what seemed to be layers upon layers of wool.

"How do you know so much about handling ships?" His question slipped out before he could even consider asking it.

Yawning, Winn kept dragging her brush through her hair as she considered her answer. Finally she shrugged. "I grew up around ships."

"Sailing is hardly something that can be picked up through exposure. Colds, yes. Sailing, no." Jack wrested off his wet boots, letting them drop into the puddle that was forming on the floor under his feet.

"Depends on the family." Winn was too tired to turn her back as Sparrow started to strip off his soaked clothing. She closed her eyes to maintain her modesty if not his, and leaned back against the wall. The slap of wet fabric hitting wood was loud. "But it helped that I was the youngest and had an interest. After my parents died my guardian decided I was too old to be such a hoyden."

"How long did that last?" he asked as he rubbed himself down with a towel that had seen better days. His cabin was a disaster; objects were strewn hither and yon but Winn seemed to have found the necessities and laid them out for his use. Besides the towel there was a set of dry clothing and a pile of charts on the table.

"Are you implying that I'm the rebellious sort?"

"Need I?"

_No._ "My interests turned to other matters."

"Fashion, gossip, and ardent young suitors?"

Winn laughed quietly. Yes, there had been a few suitors, but she'd been too consumed by the death of her parents for their attentions to be anything other than fleeting. "I started to play with designing ships though there were only so many resources open to me then."

"And now?"

She thought about that. "And now I've had the opportunity to pursue wider avenues."

"I'd hate to play cards with you." Jack's sly comment was rewarded with another soft laugh. "I don't suppose one of those designs was the _Kestrel_."

"No. Not the _Kestrel_."

There she was, using such careful phrasing again. "Another ship then."

"Perhaps." Winn yawned and set her brush aside. "Did you bring any food with you?" Coffee was likely too much to ask for with the seas still rough, but food would be nice.

"Perhaps. Why don't you open your eyes and find out?"

"Because you have no modesty." _Three older brothers and a day in a storm,_ she told herself as she went ahead and opened her eyes. But Sparrow wasn't trying to shock her. He was dressed in yet another threadbare shirt and a pair of pants that looked strange now that they were no longer folded.

Seeing the look on her face, he explained, "Spent some time in the Orient." He was too tired to do justice to the indecent tale that normally would have been given in place of the truth.

"Ah. Food?"

_And she's too hungry to pay attention anyway._ "Only slightly damp bread – which should actually make it soft enough to chew – jerked beef, and this." He flourished a bottle.

"Rum?"

"Wine."

"Which is what rich people use to get drunk." Before he could protest, Winn slipped on a pair of leather slippers and joined him at the table. She was tired, but not so tired that she failed to realize that the bed was too intimate a setting for a meal shared between them. "It's just as well. You'd never be able to produce rum better than my brother's." Automatically she picked up his wet things and draped them over the line she'd hung between two hooks in the wall that seemed placed to support a hammock.

"You're just full of surprises," Jack replied. He wasn't talking about her comment about rich people and superior rum but about how she was still making an effort to aid him. But Winn didn't realize that and her answer came in context of their conversation.

"No, Richard just can't sail a ship to save his life."

"Richard?" Jack waited until Winn was seated had her feet and skirts tucked up under her before pushing her closer to the table. The courtesy was foreign to him but somehow seemed appropriate after their long day. And she didn't comment on it, which only made it easier; if she'd acknowledged him he would have had to make some sarcastic comment to deflect her attention, and he was too tired to fight.

"My brother. Owns the Pelican Bay plantation."

"Then you were right."

"That surprises you? What was I right about?" Winn yawned as she broke the bread in half and handed Jack his share. There were no plates, but she wasn't about to complain. It was unlikely the bread would last long enough for her to care.

"I'd never be able to produce anything half so fine." Though she herself wasn't doing so poorly. Jack noticed how she dismissed the need for manners, and he found himself being impressed all over again. And more than that, there was her loose tongue and the loose collar of her dress which exposed far more of her fair, freckled skin than he'd previously seen… _What is she doing here?_

"So there you were on your merry way to Port Royal," he prompted after giving her a chance to get some food in her.

"There I was," she agreed as she reached for the wine. She'd already had several sips, but the bread was sticking in her throat and the beef was salty. "With a shipment of some very rare _avians_," she pronounced in a close approximation of her grandfather's accent. "And a rendezvous to keep with an Italian merchant in Port-au-Prince."

"An Italian," Jack repeated. So she must speak the language. That explained the map. "In Port-au-Prince."

"Who ships to Lisbon and Brussels."

"Interesting."

"I've always thought so. What led to this?"

"You, on a ship, Port Royal."

"Ah." Winn eyed the bottle as Sparrow took a drink. "That wine is cheap."

"Going to your head, is it, luv?"

"Yes, dearling." While Jack blinked in shock, Winn frowned. "Yes, dearling?" she whispered under her breath. "_Captain_ dearling?"

The phrase didn't lose any punch with repetition. It was nothing more than her picking up on his fondness for pet names while she was tipsy, but… _You're tired, mate. _

_ And she's soused._ The pirate in him wasn't helping.

_Taking advantage would put her in a bad mood. _

_ Unless…_ The pirate raked its hot gaze over that bundled body and the un-accusing, quizzical eyes. _Bugger._ Even the pirate couldn't justify it.

"Cheap wine," Jack agreed. "So there you were, on your ship, on your way to Port Royal where you were going to…?"

"I have another brother there. And a sister-in-law. And nieces."

"Do you?"

"Yes. He's a sailor. A captain."

"So you were going to go visit your brother."

"No. I _am_ going to go visit my brother. If you won't let me go, I'll just have to escape."

"And why would you want to escape?" He couldn't help himself. All that wonderful dark hair was too much of a temptation. And she didn't help, watching him with heavily lashed eyes as he reached out and wrapped a strand of it around one finger.

"They'll be worried," she whispered. Either she or Jack – or perhaps they both – were behaving strangely.

"Should they be? You look competent to me."

_ I am? Was that a compliment?_ "Yes, very competent. That's why I'm stuck on a pirate ship." Winn turned in her chair and pulled her knees up to her chest. The idea was to put something…more…between them, except now they were face to face. And Jack's eyes were so very dark… _No, not Jack. Sparrow. He's Captain **Sparrow**._ "Why are you doing this?" she whispered.

"Why not?"

"The map!" Winn grinned and pulled her hair away from him as her desperate mind found a reason why not. "Grandmother gave me the map to escape any unwanted offers of marriage."

"Was that what I was offering?" One of them was too drunk and he couldn't figure out which one of them it was.

"No."

Not him then. But things were getting more interesting by the moment. "Am I to assume that there is a dashing young scoundrel pining for your regard? Am I going to have to fight with some idealistic whelp intent on salvaging your honor? Because I've done that once, and I must say that I wasn't impressed. If I'm going to have to do it again you should tell me now and we'll both go looking for this treasure of yours in lieu of risking life and limb and ring finger." Winn was loosing that musical giggle again and Jack kept going simply so she would as well. Besides, as long as she was distracted she took no never mind of the lock of hair he'd recaptured.

"Or perhaps your swain is more persistent. Perhaps he would follow us to the ends of the earth. Unless, of course, you happen to willingly give your hand and chastity to a black hearted yet incredibly charming rogue."

"Well, I'm not sure about the chastity part, or the rogue, and the bit about the swain is absolutely ridiculous, but the rest would certainly ease Grandfather's mind."

"The nervous sort is he?"

"The managing sort. Grandmother warned me that he's looking to collect a spouse for his only granddaughter. He suspects me of being lonely."

_So lonely. _Jack silently handed over the wine bottle, his gaze fastened on Winn's lips and throat as she drank. _You need to get yourself to Tortuga, mate. A few hours of less innocent company will get your mind out of the gutter. _

The pirate howled that it was perfectly capable of suitably corrupting said innocent company. Then there would be no need to search for _less_ innocent company.

"And are you?" Jack asked in a rough voice. The less time he spent thinking, the better.

Winn frowned as she took a close look at him. "Why are you suddenly so full of questions?"

_Don't stop now._ "It's just that in my experience there's two kinds of women in the world. Since you're obviously not the first kind, that leaves the kind that is generally trolling for a husband."

"Oh." Winn frowned, sighed, and rubbed the heel of her hand against her forehead. "I don't feel lonely. Just…bored. Slow. My life hasn't significantly changed since I left England…" Winn trailed off as she suffered a sudden bout of self-consciousness. "You let me drink too much," she accused lightly as she pressed her flushed face into her knees. She was a private person, preferring to keep her personal problems to herself. Yet here she was, sharing things with a pirate that she didn't know how to express to her own family.

"Don't hide, lass." Jack tugged gently on the lock of hair he still held. "I'm not exactly sober myself." It wasn't a complete untruth. He was just…fascinated. Her words were matter of fact. She wasn't searching for sympathy yet here she was, planting ideas in his head that made no sense at all and that made him nervous…and that he couldn't wait to share. "Besides, I have some enjoyable theories about how we can put some wind back into your sails."

"I bet you do." Her eyes appeared over the ridge of her knees. "Each one of them lewd and absolutely inappropriate."

"But of course. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

"I hate to shatter your illusions, Captain Sparrow –"

"Then don't." He raised her chin with one crooked finger, bringing their faces close together.

"What are we doing?" she whispered, though she didn't pull away.

"We just lived through a rather forcible reminder of how alive we are," he murmured back. "Invigorating, isn't it?"

_Yes._ Feeling the power of that storm had been amazing…but this wasn't. This had her nerves on edge as Jack leaned in.

Winn turned her head when his breath got too close to her skin. The sent of him – rain, and salt, and the slight mustiness of long-stored clothing, and something sweet – was all around her, a lure that drew her in ways she didn't understand and so fought against.

"Why do you always smell like candy?" she asked in a bid to distract him.

Jack saw exactly what she was doing but he didn't want to be distracted. "Sweet tooth." He moved his hand so that he could brush his fingers against her cheek.

_Mmm…_ She shivered and pulled away. This wasn't like his earlier teasing. That had been a show for her benefit, him giving her reasons to back down. Now he looked…he _felt_…as though he was going to follow through no matter what.

"Winnie."

"I can't." His eyes told her that she didn't have to, that he'd take care of everything. _Everything but me._ "I can't, Jack."

"You want to." His voice rasped against her senses.

"I don't know what I want. And you have no self-control." It was a dangerous combination.

"True enough. I won't let that weigh on my conscience if you won't. We'll blame the wine."

"It wasn't _that_ cheap."

Jack chuckled in resignation though his voice still offered promises. "Then what should we do, luv?"

"Sober up."

"I was talking about your problem with your grandfather." Jack sat back in his chair and returned to the light banter they'd been engaged in earlier.

"Oh." She rubbed her cheek where he'd touch her, dispelling the lingering sensation of his fingers. Then she reached behind her and rubbed the back of her neck. Fighting that storm may have been invigorating, but it'd left her sore as well. "You could find me a convenient husband who would never intrude on my life." He was offering an olive branch and she'd be a fool to ignore it. "There's something to be said for your earlier plan of wedding to keep from taking a husband."

"Wonderful. This won't take but a moment."

"What won't take but a moment?" she asked in alarm, all thoughts of olive branches forgotten. When he just grinned at her, she shook her head. "No. Oh, no." Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her back down when she made to stand. "What makes you think you can –"

"_Captain_ Jack Sparrow."

He was teasing. Simply enjoying being alive as he'd said before. There was no way he could be serious. "Yes, I realize that. But –"

Jack talked over her, part of him enjoying the panic that had her looking him straight in the eye. "And _being_ a captain, all I would have to do is say is, 'Do you Winifred…?'" He paused. "What _is_ your family name, luv?"

She just stared at him, still trying to convince herself that he couldn't _possibly_ be serious.

"Alright. Not important. As I was saying, I'd say, 'Do you, Winifred take Captain Jack Sparrow as your quasi-lawfully wedded husband?' And you'd say…"

_The man is crazy._ For a moment Winn couldn't think of anything to say. Then she found her sarcasm and bitingly replied, "And then I'd say, 'Well, you're not much, but I suppose that _is_ the point.'"

His moustache twitched as he hid a smile. "I'm flattered, luv. So, once I had your overwhelming acceptance, I'd go on to say, 'And I, Captain Jack Sparrow take you as my quasi-lawfully wedded wife to neither have nor hold unless of course you can't control yourself.'"

_Control myself from doing what? _"I can't see myself ever being that desperate."

"Pity. Well, then by the powers vested in me by maritime common law –"

"The ones that say you ought to arrest yourself for piracy?"

"Exactly. I would declare us Captain and wife and give myself permission to kiss the bride."

"You're such an agreeable chap."

"I've always though so." He leaned in to claim at least a short kiss – it would be a shame to go through all this without any compensation – but she braced her hands against his shoulders and held him off. "Unfortunately the same can't be said for both of us," he sighed as he accepted yet another rebuff.

"Jack…"

"Don't." He didn't want excuses or misguided pity. Her eyes – which had been free of fear earlier – were wary and guarded, as if she thought he were mad or as if his presence put her in some kind of danger.

"Go to bed." He moved away and started making some order out of his charts. The light coming in the windows indicated the clouds had lightened enough to make puzzling out their location possible. "Get some sleep."

Winn didn't move. She had something to ask and she wanted to do it now…when they both were suffering from lowered defenses.

"I need your word that you'll let me go as soon humanly possible."

Jack hated the pleading tone in her voice. It made him feel like a brute. "And you'd trust the word of a pirate?" Thwarted desire made him brusque, yet…

…there was something behind his words, some…hope...or need. And she didn't know how to answer it. Or if she should. "I'm hoping your word means more to you than I'd credit," she replied softly.

He'd accused her of always suspecting him of ulterior motives. And of course she was right to do so, but it was tiring nonetheless. Now Jack found himself oddly pleased – and feeling just a little trapped – that she would even consider the possibility that he might have honor.

"That's a vicious rumor."

"Did you give Captain Riley any sort of ransom demand to convey to my family?"

"What?"

Winn shook her head. "You didn't, did you? So my freedom is hardly pending on the safe and timely delivery of an outrageous sum of money."

"Maybe I just saw a pretty trinket and decided I had to have it."

"But you didn't. We both know you could have, but you didn't."

"Go to bed, Winnie." This was a discussion that Jack did not want to have. "I have work to do."

His abrupt dismissal of her stung. Winn got up with more violence than grace, banging her thigh into the table and knocking her chair over in the process.

Jack watched her go, watched her bundle herself up in his blankets and use his pillow to lay her head on. And he told himself sternly as he reached for his compass, _Tortuga. I want Tortuga. _

* * *

The next few days passed with Winn avoiding Jack whenever possible. Just the memory of what they'd talked about that night in his cabin was enough to make her flush, and that in turn irritated her because she hardly knew Sparrow and so the entire night should have meant less than nothing. But it didn't, and because it didn't she couldn't keep herself from snapping at him any time he tried to talk to her.

It wasn't hard to stay out of his way though. The entire crew was intent on repairs, Jack no less so than his men. Once she'd made it clear that she would finish whatever tasks were given to her all she had to do was stand around on deck and eventually someone – usually Gibbs – would give her something to do. She'd washed, she'd scraped, she'd hauled, she'd spliced…she'd attempted to sew but that'd been taken away from her when there'd been questions over whether her stitches would hold or not. And she'd made friends with the monkey.

Jack observed her activities any time he had the chance, and had Gibbs or Cotton watching her when he couldn't. True, his men had more than enough on their plate to keep them busy, but he'd seen one or two of them attempt to strike up a conversation with her. For a time she would manage to nod and give one word replies, but eventually her bad mood would get the better of them – at least he didn't _think_ it was snobbery – and they'd wander away to work elsewhere.

Yet despite Winn's careful planning to steer clear of him, the ship wasn't as small as she would have liked and Jack usually made it a point to seek her out at least once a day. In her opinion his sole purpose was to annoy her. In his opinion he had a legitimate concern in the doings of anyone on his ship and the extra obligation of trying to decide what to do with his captive. But whatever the reason, their meetings usually ended with Winn letting the grip on her temper slide, and with Jack walking away with an aggrieved look on his face.

"She worked through midday again," Gibbs informed his captain and friend two days after the storm. Winn was on the main deck near the prow with a length of chain she'd been given to oil and check over for rust.

"Hmm…"

"Yesterday she fed her ration to the birds."

"Mmmm…"

"I hate to ask, Capt'n, but did something occur betwixt –"

"Why? Did she say something happened?" Jack demanded, suddenly nervous, though he wasn't sure why.

"Nooo…can't say that she did."

"Oh. Good. Because if something had happened – which it didn't – that something wouldn't have been anything to talk about, savvy?"

Gibbs watched Jack for a moment. "If you don't mind my sayin', you're jumpier than a man touched by St. Elmo's fire."

"Don't you have work to do?"

Gibbs thought about that, and then he thought about how his captain was acting. "I suppose it _is_ getting to be time to suggest that Mistress Winifred take a break," he said slowly, watching for Jack's reaction. It was no real business of his, but still, it was nice to know from which quarter the wind blew.

"Don't bother. She'll just disagree." Jack didn't notice how he straightened his hat and tugged down the cuffs of his jacket.

"So you're going to go over and order her to rest?"

"She hisses and spits, but she listens."

_The Capt'n wants to warm the lady's bed but she's said no._ "You enjoy riling her."

"Aye." _At least she looks at me when she's mad._ Before Gibbs could take him to task, Jack left the deck and worked his way towards Winn in the most indirect route he could take. Still, Winn knew exactly who it was when a shadow fell over her lap.

"Captain Sparrow," she drawled. "Come to check over my work? Wanting to ensure that I'm not sabotaging your ship?"

"What kind of attitude is that, luv? What kind of husband would I –"

She was on her feet and in his face in an instant. "You are _not_ my husband."

Jack eyed the way she gripped the handle of the sword she hadn't removed since he'd returned to it her. "I hate to disagree with you, Winnie, but I seem to remember –"

"Oh, give over," she said in disgust. "We were both tired and under the influence of spirits –"

He knew she wasn't intentionally trying to be amusing, but surely she had to see the ridiculousness of the situation. "Are you saying we were possessed?"

"_Dis_possessed. Of any good reason."

_Or perhaps not._ Apparently she needed to be drunk to have any kind of sense of humor. Too bad he didn't have a bottle of rum to offer as a peace offering, though considering the mood she was in, she'd probably attempt to break it over his head. "Truce," he offered. "You scare me when you look so fierce."

He was using that soft voice, the one that seemed to wrap around her throat and made her breathless. But Winn steeled herself against it. The last time she'd given in to him, he'd used the opportunity to make a fool of her.

"Jack Sparrow," she murmured just for him to hear, "you're a _liar_."

It was hardly a challenge he could ignore. He leaned in, a smirk flashing across his features when the railing kept her from backing away as far as she would have liked. "That's a serious charge. And we're not even playing cards. Or dice."

Instead of flaring as Jack had expected her to, Winn's eyes went flat, as if she were tired of fighting. "Are you saying I'm wrong? That you don't lie?"

"Only when I don't want to tell the truth," Jack said darkly. Her own lack of spirit fed his sudden cynicism.

They watched each other, both unimpressed by what they saw, until the sudden raucous call of a gull overhead broke their staring contest.

"Sounds like we're nearing land, Captain. May I hope that you'll soon be dropping me off in something that resembles civilization?"

Jack backed off as Winn turned, seemingly scanning for land. All that was currently visible was a greenish-grey smudge on the horizon. He watched her, not liking that he didn't know what was running through that head of hers. If she were truly as pigheaded as she'd acted so far, then he was going to have to keep a sharp eye on her.

" 'Fraid not, luv," he drawled as he watched her profile. "That port we're nearing is Tortuga."

"Oh." _Tortuga…how much farther can you get from a civilized place? Trying to escape there would be like jumping out of the pan and into the fire. Sparrow may have given me my sword back, but that's hardly proof against mischief in a town full of drunken ne'er-do-wells._ "Tortuga. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's hardly an ideal place to sell a cargo of birds. You might be able to get full price for…oh…half of them. There's only so many pirates with money burning holes in their pockets to frivolously spend on pretty pets." _Someone mentioned Tortuga recently,_ she thought. _Who was it?_

How did she manage to know what he himself was thinking? "Spend a lot of time hanging around pirate ports, luv?"

Winn turned her head to glare at him, wondering if that was some kind of slur against her character. "Not exactly," she said stiffly. "But I _am_ familiar with birds and where it's most profitable to sell them." Did she know anyone who made regular stops at Tortuga? Or was she just remembering her grandfather's stories where Tortuga served as a rallying point for fleets of pirates, mercenaries, and privateers?

"Needs must, luv."

_Ryan. Ry takes the _Kingfisher_ to Tortuga twice a year to gather information on the latest alliances and such. And __he wrote that he was going to stop there before meeting me in Port Royal._ It was by no means a sure thing but with any luck, her brother would be there when they sailed in. _And I can get away from this ship. **And** her captain._

"Aye. Needs must."

It was Sparrow's turn to be suspicious of her sudden agreement. "You're not planning anything stupid, are you, Winnie?"

"Of course not." _I haven't had the time yet._

* * *

He didn't trust her. Not for an instant.

The feeling was mutual of course. There was no way for it not to be. When all was said and done, they were two strangers who'd spent too much time in close proximity, and one of whom had a great deal of say over the actions of the other.

Jack tipped his chair back on two legs as he stared at the bit of cabin where Winn had hung up a sheet to make herself an alcove where she could change and sleep in privacy. Not even revenge explained her actions. When he'd first seen that flimsy partition and the half concealed hammock, he'd expected her to lay down the law and tell him she'd drawn the short straw for him and that she thanked him very much for the use of his bed. But she hadn't wanted even that much from him. He'd sighed and growled and wanted to shake her for being so bloody _obstinate_, but she hadn't backed down.

He didn't understand how they'd come to this. Didn't understand the _why_of it. The last civil moment they'd shared had been that fake ceremony, then before he knew it she was begging him to let her go as if he were some kind of ogre, and now she would barely speak to him.

And that's why he didn't trust her.

It wasn't a new feeling. Jack had long since stopped trusting anyone he couldn't manipulate into doing what he wanted. And Winn was too erratic in her behavior to make him comfortable. About the only thing he could manipulate her into doing was losing her temper and then getting her to back down long enough for them both to regroup.

To be honest, he didn't think he could make her stay on the _Black Pearl_ tomorrow.

Jack smoothed down his mustache then twirled one half of his beard around a lazy finger before shoving himself out of his chair with a weary sigh. By all rights he should be sleeping, not worrying about the survival of one painfully exasperating passenger.

With some care he drew aside the curtain, then leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Work apparently agreed with the woman – she was sound asleep.

_"__If you won't let me go, I'll just have to escape."_ That's what she'd said. He'd seen enough of her determination that he didn't doubt that she'd find a way off the ship at the very least if someone didn't keep an eye on her…or lock her up.

"You leave me with painfully few choices, Winnie," he grumbled as he scooped her out of her chosen bed. Hammocks were something he knew. Hammocks were very nice when relaxing on a deserted beach. They were less nice when slept in night after night.

* * *

Winn was still asleep when Jack burst into the cabin the next morning. Half asleep, shedidn't realize she was lying on her belly in a real bed, much less that she was able to grope for a weapon with which to mercifully dispatch whoever was waking her at such an ungodly hour. It wasn't until she heard Jack say, "Don't bother getting up, luv,"that she moaned and buried her face in the pillow.

Jack had little pity for her. She slept later than anyone on the ship and complained more when she got up. "I just came in to grab a spare pistol before I shove off."

"Ughn… Shut…the bloody door…behind you." Winn's voice, rough with sleep, grabbed Jack's attention immediately even if her demand didn't. It sounded as if she had spent the night muffling screams.

_That's a lovely thought,_ Jack thought to himself_. Too bad I'll never get the chance to hear such a thing from her. _ Aloud, he said, "Is that all the good-bye I get? Not even a 'Jack, the hours 'til sundown will seem endless without your enthralling presence in my life?' And for your information, those hours are quickly slipping away while you laze around in bed."

"I didn't ask for an opinion, but as long as they're flying about then I'd rather you not come back until after sundown – it would make escape ever so much easier." Winn was slowly waking up and she wasn't happy about it.

At the renewed mention of escape, Jack turned to Winn, a serious look in his eyes for once. "Don't even be considering such a thing, Winnie. Tortuga is no Port Royal. A woman like you'd be accosted within minutes of setting foot on the dock. You are to stay here and out of trouble. If for a single instant it appears as if you're _not_ going to remain here, the crew has orders to put you in the brig along with a bit of something to keep your hands occupied, and you will stay there until I come back for the day. Do you understand me?"

_Overbearing, dictatorial, swaggering, rum-sponging…_ Winn gritted her teeth and said in a tone that was close to normal, "While I find your concern for my safety touching, I find your lack of faith in my abilities and my intelligence disappointing. I have no intention of setting foot in Tortuga, _Captain. _Have no fear; I shall be safely aboard when you return."

Jack examined her, which was difficult to do considering her face was half buried in a pillow and her hair nearly obscured the rest of it.

"I'll be trusting you to keep your word, luv." Besides, fully half the crew was staying behind to continue repairs. If she didn't keep her word then he'd hear about it. But thinking that he took her seriously would likely put her in a better mood. "Give me your hand so we can shake on it."

Winn thrust a hand out from underneath her pillow. While it was only visible from fingertips to forearm, it was good enough for the pirate. "We're agreed then. You stay aboard ship."

* * *

"Ouch." Winn shook her hand hard before popping her finger into her mouth. That was the fifth time in half an hour that she'd pricked her finger on her needle. She was tempted to give up and leave her things behind on Sparrow's ship – though to leave anything behind she'd first have to have somewhere else to go – but she wasn't going to leave her map behind, and she'd rather keep her sketchbook if she could manage. However, that meant tucking the map into the book and then sewing the book into an oilcloth parcel…and that meant pain as she kept poking herself with the needle.

"How long have I been at this?" she muttered to herself. There was no easy answer; as welcome as the diversion from sewing was, her battered pocket watch was useless when she finally dug it out of her chest. She normally wasn't one to watch the time, and so it probably hadn't been wound in at least week. _Well…_ Winn gave herself permission to leave her work and check the position of the sun.

The light outside was bright. Winn had to shade her eyes from the dazzling reflection of the water while her eyes adjusted. She was immediately joined by the monkey – no one would tell her its name – and a crewman. He looked nervous, as if he thought she were going to yell at him. _The only one I've **ever** yelled at is Sparrow,_ she thought grumpily as she looked around. It wouldn't do to pay too much attention to her surroundings or to raise any suspicions in her…companion…but she'd never actually been to Tortuga and the waterfront was definitely a remarkable sight

Dreary, drab, and in the process of disintegrating, the buildings facing the docks weren't much in themselves. It was the vast stream of people – constantly in motion, usually in _loud_ motion – that brought the place to rowdy life. There were the cries of animals as they were loaded on to ships, the cries of longshoremen who had been underpaid, cat calls, name calling, and the cawing of birds overhead. For now it all seemed cheerful enough and even productive. Winn knew that was likely to change as the sun started to set and crews were set loose from a day of drudgery. Then she imagined that shots and screams and laugher would turn the entire port into a madhouse, not just the quays and docks.

"Is it always like this?" Winn asked the man at her elbow. The sight before her wasn't completely alien. The town near her grandfather's plantation saw its own moments like this, but they were few and far between and usually in concert with a ship that hadn't been expected to make it back to its native harbor.

"Aye. Near always. Tad bit on the quiet side today. Early still."

Winn shook her head. How did people here make it through each day? It'd take so much energy to keep up with the frantic pace of it all.

Just across from them, there was a small ship preparing to cast off. She watched it, wondering if such a decrepit hulk would even manage to make it out of the bay intact. If she were any judge, they were likely setting out for a nice quiet beach to careen and make repairs.

"What's that sound?"

Winn batted at the small hands rifling through her hair. "What sound?" she asked, just as she too heard the trilling whistle. "Oh. That's just a...curlew…" A bright grin broke over her face.

Luck and coincidence were indeed with her. Her brother's ship had been mostly hidden by the craft that'd just left and she was certain that the _Pearl _had been the focus of attention since it'd come into the harbor. If she'd been paying more attention herself, she might have spotted her brother before he spotted her.

_Ry… _She wet her lips and placed two fingers to her lips. The resulting whistle was ear-splitting.

A hard hand twirled Winn around. Half her hair fell down around her shoulders as she felt a small body launch itself off her shoulder. "My hairpins…that monkey –"

Jack didn't give her time to recover, demanding, "Are ye tryin' to make yourself the focus of every roamin' eye in the bloody port?"

"Uhh…" Winn glanced over her shoulder. The sight of men scurrying around on the deck of the _Kingfisher_ made her smile again. Even the way Jack was muttering about how she had no sense at all as he hustled her back into his cabin wasn't enough to dent her good mood.

"You'll be staying here until I return, and I want no argue–"

"And when will that be?"

Jack stopped. Winn didn't _sound_ upset. She didn't _look_ mad. In fact, she seemed… excited.

"Sunset," he replied, testing the waters.

"Sunset…alright. I can keep myself busy until then."

"I'm relieved to hear it." Jack gave her an odd look – she was behaving _strangely_ – then left the cabin to confer with the ships' carpenter about how much might be needed from the ship's purse to buy the supplies that couldn't wait to be stolen from elsewhere.

* * *

**End Note:** okay, let me have it. 


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **this took a little longer to complete than I'd expected. I blame having to finish another story and my renewed interest in the Harry Potter series. ;)

Enjoy. Remember, reviews will be mailed out later tonight due to this site's policy on in-chapter replies.

* * *

Winn bided her time until sunset. It wasn't easy to wait when she knew it wouldn't take much on her part to have her brother come charging in – so to speak – with a launch and a sympathetic ear. Every time she found herself looking towards the double doors to the cabin, she forced her eyes back down to her work and reminded herself that the _Black Pearl_ was the fastest ship in the Caribbean for good reason: her sweeps. If the _Kingfisher_ didn't have the advantage of being ready to sail with the tide then it wouldn't be difficult for Sparrow to catch up.

_Not that he would. He wouldn't. He has no reason to. _

Hot eyes…_"Maybe I just saw a pretty trinket and decided I had to have it…" _

Warm breath. _"I __would declare us Captain and wife and give myself permission to kiss the bride." _

The offer of adventure without consequence. _"You want to…We'll blame the wine…" _

"Stop it." She tied off a thread with a hard jerk, wishing she could do the same with her disobedient mind. Thoughts like that had been running through her head for days now. _ There's nothing I have that he wants that can't __be gotten elsewhere._ "Oh good lord, Freddy. Now you're _sounding_ like him."

Finished with her package, Winn stood up and stripped off her tunic. It took some digging, but she managed to locate a roll of bandages and her stiffest waistcoat in the mess that her trunks were fast becoming. Still muttering under her breath, Winn held her book to her waist as she started to wrap the bandages that would keep the package in place around her midriff. For a moment she was afraid that her stiff, buckram waistcoat – which was truly just a makeshift corset – wouldn't fit over her newly "enhanced" figure. But the buttons fastened easily, and when she looked down, Winn could hardly tell that she had done anything to herself.

_I've lost weight,_ she mused as she slipped her tunic back over her head. It wasn't unusual for her to skip a meal every now and then, and she often lost her appetite when she was stressed, but this was a matter of pounds. _Ryan will notice._ A new hairstyle on his wife, the man would miss, but heaven help any member of his family that was feeling under the weather.

The memory of her brother had her feeling more confined than ever.

"Sunset. He said he'd be back at sunset." Restlessly, Winn paced around the cabin. If Sparrow would just come back, she wouldn't find herself caught up in thinking about him. Face to face, she could concentrate on her annoyance because she could remind herself that he was a very dangerous man and that her memories were playing her false.

_Set faster…_ The sky was just barely tinged with color. The rocky slopes that formed this natural harbor blocked her vision to the west, but she assumed that the sun was close to setting. _The crew will have had enough of working. They'll want to go ashore and spend their hard earned__, ill-gotten loot._ Good. The fewer men around when she attempted to escape, the better.

As she roamed around the small space, Winn's eye fell on an ink pot and a blank sheet of parchment. _I shouldn't…_she told herself as she walked by it once. _It wouldn't be kind,_ she scolded on her second pass. _But it wouldn't **hurt** him,_ her mischievous side tempted. _And it wouldn't cost him more than a few hours' searching._

_I don't have the time…do I?_ Pirates were hardly known for their punctuality, Winn reasoned as she sat down. _Her_ map may have been safely tucked away but now…

…but Sparrow wouldn't know that.

* * *

Jack was in an excellent mood when he returned to the _Pearl_ that evening. Not only had he managed to sell over half of those bloody birds at full price, he'd made arrangements to sell the rest of his recently attained windfall at quite a bit more than he'd expected. Aside from the grogshops, cathouses, and other establishments that catered to the public, he'd been approached by several almost respectable characters with bids for his lot of spices and sugar. The storm had apparently diverted several ships – and more importantly, their cargos – from meeting deadlines. Their loss was the _Pearl's_ – and more importantly, Jack's – gain. If it weren't for having to come to some sort of resolution about Winnie's fate, he would have gladly spent the night reveling in any and all forms of cheerful depravity offered to him.

But there _was_ Winnie, and considering how closely she'd been sticking to her lady-of-virtue charade, he doubted that he could convince her that a long sea voyage was what she needed to liven up her life. And it _was_ a charade. The other night he'd almost tempted her into what might have led to an enjoyable and profitable liaison, but she'd gotten scared. Not outraged, not offended, not holier-than-thou… _Scared._ Virtue stood no chance against _him._ In Jack's experience, virtue was often just snobbery with a pretty face. But fear had more to do with what a person truly believed that virtue did. Fear always held some kind of truth, which was why it could be so debilitating.

_I can't keep her onboard if she doesn't want to be here,_ he mused as he hiked up the gangplank _She'd make me miserable._ He knew Winn would be jumping for joy when he informed her of her imminent departure from his ship. Yet there was the question of where to deposit her. After much thought – well, it hadn't taken long to decide once he'd sobered up – Jack had accepted that no matter how much fun it'd be, it wouldn't be prudent to take the _Pearl_ to Port Royal. The navy simply had too large a presence there. So that left taking her home. And aside from prying the information about her home port out of her, how much trouble could it be?

"Gibbs!"

"Capt'n!"

The two men called out at the same time, their voices mingling and making them both pause. Gibbs recovered first. "The men are hopin' to be paid, Capt'n."

"Well, they're in luck then, aren't they?" Jack reached into his coat and pulled a heavy purse filled with silver. "Seventy pieces a man, and if they complain, tell 'em there'll be more tomorrow."

"Aye…" Gibbs walked away with a mercenary grin.

For a moment, Jack watched the flock of tired pirates that formed around Gibbs. Several lanterns were lit so that accounts could be kept… Lanterns…it was dark…sun down… Jack hurried to his cabin and gingerly pulled open the nearest door, making sure that he stayed well behind it in case Winn was in a mood to throw things.

Nothing.

Jack slowly poked his head around the door, and saw Winn bent over his table, her back to the entrance.

She didn't _look_ angry.

In a flash, Jack was out from behind the door and nonchalantly walking into the cabin. "What's captured your interest so thoroughly, Winnie?"

Inconspicuously – she hoped – Winn scrubbed her ink-stained fingers against her pants. The faint sound of Jack talking to someone outside had filtered in to her, sending her into a bit of a frenzy as she put the finishing touches – or rather, wrinkles – on her map and then buried it under Sparrow's pillow. Then she'd raced back to her seat and pulled the nearest book towards her. Truth be told, she wasn't quite sure what she was reading. Not that Sparrow _really _needed a reply; he was fine with supplying both sides of a conversation.

"My log book. Boring reading…unless you're curious about what kind of style I could keep a wife in."

"You're in danger of teaching the parrot a new phrase," Winn said as she rose from the table.

"How's that, luv?"

"If I have to use the words, 'We are not married' one more time –"

"Are you certain of that?"

Winn's eyes narrowed. "Captain or no, you cannot legally perform your own marriage. And as a pirate I doubt your ability to perform _anything_ legally."

"But not my ability to perform."

Winn turned bright red, though she did an admirable job of ignoring that fact herself. This wasn't the first time and likely wouldn't be the last that someone purposely attempted to embarrass her. Her eyes narrowed, she stabbed him in the chest with one slender finger, and opened her mouth. "You may think you're amusing, but I don't appreciate your efforts to irritate me, Captain."

Jack just gave her a toothy grin that set her own teeth on edge. "If I were doing it for your benefit, I'd be crushed."

_Back down,_ her mind urged though Winn would have much rather curled her hand into a fist so she could show him a thing or two about being crushed. _Let him win. Stalk off. He won't follow for __at least ten minutes. This is your best chance._

"Ooooh…" she fumed, pretended to be speechless. Her bare feet didn't make a very impressive noise as she stomped off, but they did let her hear if Sparrow followed or not.

He didn't.

The night air was cool, the deck lit by massive lanterns, the water dark and full of murky reflections. Winn walked to the rail and look down, and found herself having second thoughts. It wasn't a particularly good idea to dive into unknown waters even in full daylight. She was going to attempt it at night?

_What other choice to I have?_

Once again a trilling whistle broke into her thoughts. Her brother had come back out onto the deck of his ship.

Winn glanced around, seeing if anyone else's attention had been drawn to her or the direction she was looking in. She was in luck. Most of the crew had either disembarked are were impatiently waiting in line to be paid. A mere whistle couldn't compete with the lure of money, especially when Tortuga seemed to be coming to life with the sounds of rowdy, bawdy entertainment.

_Now or never._ Drawing a deep breath, Winn carefully climbed over the railing. Suddenly it seemed like a very long way down from the deck of the _Pearl_ to the waiting depths below. She took two more deep breaths before closing her eyes and letting go.She entered the water feet first, prepared for a jarring impact. None came.

Knowing that someone could be after her in an instant, Winn started swimming towards her brother's ship before her head broke the water's surface. _Oh my goodness, this water is a bit colder than I expected, _she thought, focusing on that thought rather than on how her sodden clothing already seemed to be pulling at her._ I hope Ryan brought Cat, otherwise I'll be stuck in wet clothes until I give an explanation that suits him._

The splash that Winn's departure from the _Pearl_ caused was ignored by most of the crew. Jack, who was nearer to the source of the sound, looked up from the numbers he was entering into the logbook he'd reclaimed. When he couldn't spy his guest within easy sight, he rose from the table with foreboding._ What could have happened now?_ he wondered. _I didn't think anyone was drunk enough to cause too much trouble._ As if the _real_ troublemaker on his ship would let herself get drunk enough to fall into the sea.

She wasn't on deck and there was a series of dissipating ripples marking the spot where _someone_ had gone under. There were no such ripples to show that anyone had come back up. "Bugger," he muttered under his breath as he stripped off his coat and hat. "Man overboard!" he called to a crew reluctant to turn away from Gibbs and the counting table.

As Jack quickly stripped off his weapons, he wondered what it was about women and drowning. Seriously. If they couldn't swim, they shouldn't be allowed within a hundred feet of anywhere where they could _enter_ the water.

Once Winn could no longer hold her breath, she surfaced only to hear shouts from both crews. Some voices sounded angry, others were shouting directions. She didn't pay any of them mind. Her entire focus was saved for putting one arm in front of the other.

Jack felt relief when he saw Winn surface, but it was plain to see that she was tiring. He had just resigned himself to going in after her when a shout came from the other ship. "Speed things along, Freddy! Captain Sparrow is starting to look heroic."

Jack raised his eyebrows as he watched the other speaker. The man was tall and bareheaded, dark hair moving in the breeze. Now _this_ was interesting. "She's floundering," he called back. "What do you propose be done?"

"Well, I wouldn't suggest giving aid. I'm not sure if you've yet had the privilege, but Freddy's always gotten snappish when she thinks that she's being patronized." The other man spread his arms as if to ask, "what can I do?" but he sounded amused. "Best to wait until she asks for assistance."

Winn overheard all this. She stopped swimming and started to tread water. Once she'd caught her breath, she started cursing both men, first her brother and then Sparrow. Her threats weren't taken as seriously as they might have had she not been soaking wet and so angry that she kept forgetting to tread water and wouldn't remember until she started to sink, spluttering as water filled her mouth. Then she'd force herself back up and pick up where she'd left off, madder than she'd been before.

As she was about to start in on her brother againa rope landed in the water a foot or two to her right. Winn gave up her attempt to berate the two clearly unrepentant rogues and swam over to grab hold of it. Quicker and with less care than she would have liked, she was pulled up the hull of the ship onto the _Kingfisher's_ deck. Arms with blankets and mulled wine to warm her and patting, laughing congratulations surrounded her almost before she could process what'd happened.

"Let me through. She's _my_ sister." An irritated voice preceded her brother's appearance. He broke the circle and immediately wrapped a second blanket around her shoulders. "I don't know if I should be impressed by your vocabulary or if I should shake you." Winn had to say that though Ry had helped her escape from the _Pearl, _he didn't sound pleased to see her. "Freddy, _what_ are you doing here?"

Her jaw dropped and her temper flared. "Oh, well that's a fine welcome! _I_ spend a week among strangers after being forcibly _removed_ from my ship, I have to _swim_ to get away – only to be mocked by my own brother – who then blames me for needing to escape in the first place!" She started rubbing at her skin where her wet clothing was rubbing against her. "_And_ I'm breaking out in a rash from the salt water."

Ry looked at her for a moment, absorbing what she'd said, visibly relaxing as he came to some sort of conclusion. "If you can complain about it, you're fine." He forestalled her next angry barrage by holding up a hand. "I'm sorry for making you angry but you have no idea what kind of shock I had when my first mate came to me and said he'd seen someone resembling my sister on the next ship over. That storm a few days ago was bad enough when I pictured you safely in Port-au-Prince, but then to find out that instead of being looked after by Captain Riley, you're on a ship with Jack Sparrow? Discovering that his sister has been alone on a pirate ship is not the kind of shock a man likes to receive."

Winn was slightly mollified by this show of concern. "I'm fine, Ry. Sparrow's been nothing more than an inconvenience and an annoyance. Really. Still, I'd appreciate it if you'd have your men shove off. I'd like to put Tortuga behind us. I'm sure you understand."

"You must be tired," Ry said as he placed a hand under her elbow and started guiding her away from the large puddle forming on the deck.

"What?" Winn was confused by this sudden change of topic.

"You must be tired if you didn't notice that we're already under way."

She looked around, noticing for the first time the sound of a ship coming to life as the wind filled its sails. Her eyes caught on a man descending the ratlines. The man stepped aside, revealing a better view of the ship she'd just left. As predicted, her abrupt departure had caused little dismay among the pirate crew. They were already reforming their line, eager to be paid. There was just one man watching her, and as she met his eyes, he reached up and touched two fingers to the brim of his hat in a salute.

"…and Cat said she'd have a hot bath waiting for you." Winn looked away from the _Black Pearl_ and her captain. Her place was here.

"That sounds nice."

* * *

"The lass keeps her word," Jack said absently as he heard footsteps come up behind him. There was only on man on board who would care to stay and talk to him when wine, women, and song were waiting not a stone's throw away.

"Is that why you look like you just ran across a ship sailing unescorted from the Gold Coast, then?" asked Gibbs.

Jack didn't bother to wipe away his smirk. "Mr. Gibbs, just how crazy is this crew?"

_"…bound to be some sailors on this rock as crazy as you…" _

_ "…I **am** going to visit my brother…"_

"Uhh…well…that depends on what you have in mind, Capt'n."

Jack turned and grinned. Clapping Gibbs on the shoulder, he said in jolly voice, "Let's go see if Scarlett is speaking to me yet."

* * *

She'd lost weight and she still wasn't eating.

_I'll get Sparrow should Winn ask. I'll definitely get him if he laid a hand on her._ Ryan Morgan watched his baby sister play with her food while she spent a great deal of time glossing over details of her stay on the _Black Pearl._ Oh, she'd suitably explained how she'd gotten from the _Kestrel_ to the _Pearl_, and stressed over and over again that Sparrow, while not exactly behaving as a gentleman, hadn't beaten her either. Or starved her, or taken advantage of her, or forced her to endure more than a few uncomfortable hours in his brig…which by her own admission she _might_ have deserved. Still, she was spending so much time assuring them both that she was fine that Ry was convinced there was something that'd happened that was making her uncomfortable.

"…and once we were through the storm, everyone on board was too busy with repairs to bother me and we came straight here. So ends the story of my time aboard the _Black Pearl_." Winn looked at the faces opposite her. Ryan looked thoughtfully suspicious. Well, she hadn't expected any less there. Cat – Catherine, her sister-in-law – was looking rather astonished.

"Sparrow wasn't eager to get rid of you?" she asked teasingly. "I mean, no offense, but I've seen you hustled off ships before."

Winn flushed a bit as she rubbed at the back of her neck. When she'd first arrived in the Caribbean from England, she'd been an ungrateful brat. Angry because she'd had to leave her home, angry because it seemed as if no plans had been made for her by her family, she'd spent several months irritating her brothers. Catherine, bless her heart, had probably had the hardest time. Unsettled to find her oldest brother married – and not happy with the explanation that she must have passed by the ship carrying his letter – Winn had purposely made an unpleasant impression on Catherine. Cat had come from a large family herself and was familiar with petulant younger siblings. The other woman had stood up and demanded that Ryan take Winn to her grandparents' house. Winn had been furious to see that her brother would side against her at the insistence of another – or that's how it'd seemed – and had taken things badly.

She could admit now that living with her grandparents had been for her own good. It took nothing short of a full fledged attack with cannonade to make her grandfather flinch and her grandmother had no problem letting people stew in their own juices until they were ready to behave. It'd only taken a month of such disciplined love for Winn to straighten herself out.

"Yes, thank you for the reminder, Cat," Winn said tartly though she was hiding a smile. All had been forgiven a long time ago.

Ry disagreed. "I don't think he _really_ made her mad."

She glared at her brother. "He _did_ make me mad. _That's_ how I ended up in the brig."

"Oh, I'm not trying to sound skeptical, Freddy, because not only have I seen you mad and lived to tell about it, but I've made you mad myself. I think the least I ever got away with was a thorough maiming. Yet here you are telling me that you didn't so much as –"

"You needn't make me sound like some kind of virago, Ry."

"No, I think the term 'harpy' works ever so much better."

"Cat, make your husband stop insulting me." Winn appealed to her brother's wife. "I thought you would have him better trained by now. You've been married for what, nearly ten years? Don't you have _any_ control over him?"

Catherine laughed. "You only say that because you've never been married."

There was a quiet knock at the door. Jumping at the opportunity to get the focus of the conversation off him, Ryan called for the person to enter. Three men came in with trays. Quickly clearing the table of the Morgans' dinner dishes, they left a bottle and three glasses behind on the table. Then they left, shutting the doors to the cabin behind them.

Winn reached for the bottle. "I see Richie bestowed a few bottles of his best rum upon you."

Ry snorted. "_Bestowed?_ You must not go by his plantation enough, elsewise you'd know that if he can't hand off a few crates, he's positively downcast for days."

"Well, that shows what I know. Obviously I'm being bypassed in this arrangement. Likely by Grandfather's order." Winn accepted the glass she was given, but didn't take a sip. "Why didn't anyone ever tell me how talkative I get when intoxicated?"

"You think we notice when we're all intoxicated as well?"

Winn supposed he had a point. "How are my nieces and nephews doing?"

Tilting his chair back on two legs, Ryan asked slyly, "You can't wait until you see them next?"

"I need to be fore_warned_ for when I see them next." Winn only sounded harried. She truly adored her young nieces and nephews.

The rest of the night was spent with the proud parents telling various amusing stories of their children, while Winn listened in rapt attention. When daylight started to show through the aft windows, Cat yawned. "Oh, I shouldn't have stayed up so late. I need my sleep."

"Why's that?" Winn looked up in time to see the joyfully secretive look the two exchanged. It was one reserved for people who'd been married a long time. "Is there something else you want to tell me before we fall asleep where we sit?"

Looking at her husband, Cat smiled gently. "You tell her Ryan."

Taking his wife's hand, Ryan said proudly, "Catherine's pregnant. Come February, you'll have another niece or nephew. Care to place a bet on which it will be? The rest of the family will, once they hear about this."

"Yeah, I'll bet. I'm thinking you're going to have another set of twins, which will give me sixteen nieces and nephews. You all need to stop having children before I die of exhaustion."

"You!"

"Yes, me. Who do you think is the favorite aunt around here?" Winn asked with mock indignation. "I happen to have no children or husband of my own demanding my time, so all your little terrors feel free to mob me at once. I'm the one who tells stories all day, who watches a majority of your children so you can have some time alone, who fishes overeager toddlers out of tide pools, who has small children invading her bed at all hours of the night, that…"

"_That_ is your own fault, Freddy. All you'd have to do is lock your door and you wouldn't have to worry about late night visitors. But if it makes you feel better, we'll make sure to name our next daughter after you out of gratitude."

"If you really want to thank me, you can stop calling me 'Freddy.'" Standing up, Winn announced, "I'll be next door should anyone need me, and since I don't anticipate your needing me, I will be sound asleep."

Ry stood abruptly, drawing strange looks from both women. "Go ahead and get to bed," he said to his wife. "I'll be right back after I escort Freddy to her room." Cat gave him a look that told him she knew exactly what he was planning on doing. He gave his wife an abashed grin and pulled Winn out the doors to his cabin before Cat could say anything.

Winn found herself hustled into the small cabin furthest from Ry and Cat's. This was the cabin she normally slept in while aboard – it granted everyone a bit more privacy – though she didn't let Ry close the door when he tried. She could just manage to fall asleep in here when she was by herself. Being closed up with her brother who was about a foot taller and twice as broad as she didn't strike her as a good idea.

And aside from her claustrophobia, she didn't want Ry making himself comfortable for a conversation she didn't want to have. "You're not about to ask what I think you are, aren't you?"

She was already irritated. Not a good way to start out. "I'm your brother, Freddy. I care about you. And if Sparrow laid a hand on you beyond what you described…if he took advantage in the ways that pirates have been known to…"

Winn took pity on him. "You want to know if he raped me, or if he got me drunk and coerced me into sleeping with him?" She sighed. "What would you do if he did? Hunt him down like a dog and kill him?" Seeing the half-horrified look on her brother's face, Winn continued quickly. "I'm being facetious, Ry. As I said earlier, Captain Sparrow did nothing but manhandle me – for which I paid him back in full – and hover over my shoulder night and day. And that's not to mention the presence of his crew. I've rarely been so well chaperoned."

"I wouldn't call a boatload full of pirates adequate chaperonage."

_But a shipload of men handpicked by Grandfather is?_ Winn didn't say that aloud. That wasn't the point and it wouldn't settle her brother's roused protective instincts. "Believe me when I say that _nothing happened_, Ry. _Nothing._ If something had, I would have either handled it myself – because you've taught me how to – or I would have told you before we left Tortuga. Think about it: does Sparrow, a man who was about to jump into the water when he thought that I was 'floundering,' strike you as a man who would purposely cause a woman pain?"

Ry tugged on the golden hoop in his right earlobe as he thought about her words. "You're eloquent in his defense." He almost laughed as Winn became visibly on edge and defensive.

"Meaning what?" she snarled.

Pulling her into a hug, Ry laughed and said, "Well, a woman who's been abused is _not_ what you sound like."

"Meaning what?" Winn demanded once again. She didn't like the implication that she sounded like _anything_, much less what his sly tone was suggesting…not that she knew what that was.

"Meaning I know you can take care of yourself. It's just that I still think that I can do it better. So get to bed. You've had a long day." He released her slowly and laughed when she shoved him away, a scowl on her face.

"If you want to boss someone around, go make sure your wife's safely tucked in. I don't need a nursemaid." Nonetheless, she kissed him on the cheek before closing the door behind him.

* * *

**Tortuga: Earlier in the Night **

Later that night – _much_ later that night – Jack lay in an alcohol induced haze upon his bunk. Had anyone been around to comment on his inebriated estate, Jack would have told them that he wasn't quite _drunk,_ per se. However, he was close enough as to not split hairs over semantics.

On the verge of sleep, something disturbed Jack from his descent into slumber. Lifting his head in fuzzy confusion, he looked about his cabin with blurry eyes. _What's that smell? No, it's not a smell…more like…a scent. Yes, a scent. So what's that scent?_ He sniffed the air, his forehead wrinkling with concentration before suddenly brightening. _I know that smell…a woman, that's it! It smells like a woman in here._ Just as suddenly, his face fell as he remembered, _But there isn't a woman in here…is there?_ He looked around his room again.

_No, no woman. So what…?_ He buried his head in his pillow in confusion and vexation. When he did so, the scent got stronger. Lifting his head, he looked at his pillow quizzically. _Why does my pillow…**Winnie**! That little…she made my pillow **smell** like her. How am I supposed to sleep with her in my nose?_

He buried his face in the pillow again, forgetting that it smelled like Winn for a moment. As he lay there, he realized that the scent wasn't necessarily a _bad_ one. Or rather, he remembered that he liked the way she always smelled. For such a no nonsense woman, the scent Winn wore was remarkably…feminine. It smelled of some kind of flower, with underlying traces of lavender and something musky. It was really a very sexy aroma.

_Sexy! Right. That woman is so cold that any man who'd try to bed her would end up with frostbite._ Following hot on the heels of that thought was the memory of green-blue eyes flashing with anger and a sleep roughened voice that was more in character with a woman of a much different profession. _Uh-huh, _he thought._ We are not going there, Jack 'ole boy. _Even as he scolded himself, he wrapped his arms around the pillow and inhaled deeply. No matter how crazy his crew was they were _not_ going to be willing to sail near Port Royal because their captain might be just a little obsessed with answering Winn's challenge. She was gone. There wasn't much he could do about that even if he _was_ Captain Jack Sparrow.

The crinkle of paper made him let go of his sour grapes. "Wha's this?" he slurred, a silly grin on his face as he pulled the folded parchment out from under the pillow. Of course, he should have suspected that the woman might not have been able to resist telling him off one last time. Considering who the author was, it was almost as good as a love letter.

Paper in his hand, Jack got out of bed and stumbled over to the table where he lit a lamp. It took a moment because he couldn't decide which of the two lamps was the real one. Eventually though, his sight steadied and soft candlelight cast a glow over the paper in his hands.

It wasn't a letter.

It was better than a letter.

It was Winn's map…and Jack had just run across an Italian sailor that day.

Well, if he couldn't have the girl, and he couldn't even get a kiss from the girl, he'd settle for the girl's treasure.

_Still_, Jack thought as he settled back into bed, _would have preferred the __treasure **and** the girl._

Not even this triumph though could make the Winn in his dreams any less aloof.

* * *

Winn couldn't sleep. She was drowsy, but she couldn't seem to get her mind to stop racing. Various thoughts, memories, and scenes from the past few days kept forcing their way to the forefront of her mind, leaving her aggravated and sleepless.

_Ry and Cat are so happy, so in love. Just like Mum and Papa seemed to be._ Hot, she flung off her blankets and shifted around restlessly, her legs seeking a cooler spot on the bunk. _ I wonder if I'll ever find anyone that will make me that happy. _

Where that thought had come from? She was perfectly content. She had her family, her friends, her hobbies, her independence. True, there were parts of her life that were boring her, but she was certain that embarking on an affair would only compound her problems. She sighed deeply and forced her muscles to relax.

_ But, _a rebellious part of her mind whispered while she was distracted,_ wouldn't it be nice to have someone to hold you like your brothers have to hold them? To have someone to talk to, to touch? To drive off the loneliness? Someone to **love**? _

_No_, she answered herself as the newly discovered side of her that panicked at the thought of deep emotional intimacy started battering at the part of her that was in the mood for reflection. The emotional turmoil had her groaning and flipping her pillow over to the cool side. _That would be dangerous. _

_ Like Sparrow was dangerous?_

But that didn't make sense. Why had she considered Sparrow dangerous? One look at the man was enough to inform any woman that he was in search of nothing more than a good time. He was cheerfully hedonistic and about as easy to pin down as the tides. He was the kind to kiss and brag and quickly forget, only then to wonder why a woman was upset with him.

So if _she_ were avoiding a commitment to intimacy and fidelity and all those other things it'd be foolish to believe Sparrow could provide, then why had the thought of kissing him terrified her? There'd been a handful of lads in England who'd stolen kisses and she'd just laughed, or scolded, or on one notable occasion, dunked the lad in a horse trough.

_Because Sparrow isn't a lad. Because kisses should be special. Because it might be hard to stop at kisses once they're meant, and everything that comes after them are things I only want to give if I've made a deep commitment to someone and received one in return. _

Why was it so hot? Was she coming down with a fever? Would a fever explain her strange thoughts?

_I'll talk to Cat. She'll either explain all this or wrap me in a blanket and feed me a bowl of broth._

It struck Winn that either outcome would probably send her brother into a tizzy.

_Well, if I'm not sick, then I can wait to talk to someone who won't tattle to Ry…I think. _


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **a long chapter to compensate for the long wait. There was quite a bit of rearranging and splicing together and checking for cohesiveness this time around. But I like the way things came out, especially this first section. ;)

Poem Excerpt from The Baite by John Donne

Enjoy and let me know what you're all thinking. :P

* * *

Winn knew she was dreaming. That was the only explanation for why she was watching an eight-year-old Elizabeth Swann running around and laughing while she tried to catch a flock of sparrows whose feathers were flecked with gold. 

"Elizabeth, stop it." Winn tried to catch the girl as she ran past, but there were too many birds in the way and Winn didn't want to touch any of them.

"I'll catch one for you too, Winn!"

"What did I just say, Elizabeth? You're going to get hurt."

"Don't be silly. Sparrows like people."

Winn had lived with her grandfather too long to accept that. "Sparrows use people for food and lodging. They don't _like_ people."

"These ones do. See? There's one on your shoulder."

Winn froze. The weight on her shoulder was not from a small feathered body and the soft breeze that feathered against her cheek and neck was not from a pair of flapping wings.

"Come live with me, and be my love –"

"But," Winn protested. It was all she could do. In the way of dreams, her body was either unwilling or unable to turn around and face the man whispering in her ear.

"– and we will some new pleasures prove –"

"But pirates don't know poetry," she said weakly.

Of course, this was a dream, so that rough voice kept going. "Of golden sands –"

"Oh, this is all Elizabeth's fault."

"Winn? Wake up Winn. It's past noon – high time you were up and about."

Winn's eyes popped open as Cat's voice intruded on her dream. Heart racing, she stayed still, staring at the wall in front of her. Disappointment at having her dream interrupted rushed over her for one insanity laden moment before she shoved it aside. To her relief it went, taking the specifics of the dream with it. Though she thought hard, she couldn't quite remember…

_Something about Elizabeth…and birds… __And poetry? That can't possibly be right._

"Wi-i-inn…" Cat eyed the unmoving bundle of sheets and blankets that lay unresponsive on the bunk before her. Critically inspecting the mass, she thought, _It looks as if **someone** had a rough night._ Winn had slept most of the previous day away but had been feeling well enough to join Cat and Ry for dinner. _And now she's slept as long as she dare__s if she wishes to be ready to go ashore when we dock in Port Royal._

Besides, Cat was tired of talking to herself; she took action. Grabbing fistfuls of Winn's covers, she ripped them off their occupant unmercifully. That got a response, not much of one, but a response none the less.

"G'way. I don't _like_ you. Uhhhn…" Winn buried her face in her pillow, her words muffled and sleep slurred.

"I brought you a bath…" Cat persuaded in a sing-song voice. Upon hearing this, Winn's head turned so that she could see out of one eye. "I thought you might want to clean up before we spend the afternoon deciding what you're going to take ashore with you."

Winn scratched at an arm as she sat up in her bunk. Pushing her hair out of her face, she grimaced. "What do you mean?" There was a book of poetry lying open on the bunk beside her. Winn shut it with a sharp snap and a look of disgust.

Cat clicked her tongue. "I didn't think you were paying attention at dinner last night. Ry decided to bring you to Port Royal since you're overdue for your visit there. No point in worrying too many people. And because the _Petrel_ is docked there at the moment, he can send _it _back to the Captain so that the family there knows that you're well."

_And safely clasped to the smothering bosom of the rest of my family. _Winn sighed as she rubbed eyes heavy with sleep. It was beneath her to be so critical of people who loved her. _Just because I'm not on the **Pearl** anymore doesn't mean I can revert to being tyrannical. _ "What was the part about taking things ashore with me?"

"You didn't bring any clothing with you. And I assume since you'll want more than that nightshirt and the clothes you were wearing when you came aboard. Trousers would hardly be decent considering you'll be staying with the Swanns."

"Why did I agree to that?" Winn groaned.

"One would guess it was because Elizabeth asked it of you."

Winn flapped a hand in dismissal. "Yes, I _know_ that's why I agreed, but I must have been mad. Governor Swann doesn't like me."

"Don't be ridiculous. He likes you just fine."

"He liked me just fine when he had some say over my behavior. He didn't like me just fine when I became a young woman and decided I was old enough to make my own decisions. He thought I was a bad influence on Elizabeth."

"Were you?" Cat asked.

"Ha. She never needed anyone to be a bad influence. She got into plenty of trouble on her own. Still does." Winn climbed out of bed, her borrowed nightshirt pooling around her feet. Cat was nearly as tall as her husband, and Ry was a foot taller than Winn.

"And I suppose that means that you don't?"

"Of course I don't. I just happen to run across a lot of people who get into trouble."

"Like Jack Sparrow?"

Winn glared. Sparrow wasn't something she wanted to discuss. "I believe you said something about a bath?"

"Fine, fine. I surrender. End of conversation. Put on a dressing gown and follow me. I had the men set up your bath in our quarters. There's hardly room to stretch in here." Cat eyed Winn's unique getup. At least one dress – and all that went with it – was going to need to be aired and pressed _immediately. _"While you're cleaning up, I'll see that some of the men bring all your trunks up from ship's stores. You look thoroughly disreputable."

"I feel disreputable. I _am_ disreputable," Winn muttered rebelliously as she followed Cat out of the room and into the brightness of the noonday sun.

* * *

"So my little sister is aboard after all. I was beginning to think you were a figment of my imagination." Ryan watched as his wife and sister emerged from his cabin. While his wife was her normal beautiful self, his sister was transformed from the scraggly, sleepy-eyed, irritable thing that had taken her place since she'd been hauled out of Tortuga's harbor. 

Winn rolled her eyes elegantly. "Ha-ha, Ry. You are _so_ amusing."

"Let me look at you," Ry said as his womenfolk reached him in a flurry of hugs. Shesighed while giving him a perfunctory sisterly kiss to his cheek, then backed off to let him take a closer look.

Knowing that he might have to accommodate his siblings and their wives at any time, Ryan kept a small stock of clothing in their sizes aboard ship. The dress that Cat had pulled from stores was a rich shade of amber, with sleeves that ended halfway down Winn's forearms in falls of lace. Cat had obviously taken a hand in matters of grooming because Winn's cheeks were now more pink than brown – as were her lips – and rather than the sleek knot she preferred, her hair was precariously perched on top of her head. The tiny, individual braids that made up the complicated arrangement shone brightly in the sun. He wouldn't have recognized the grand lady in front of him if it hadn't been for the toes of the sea-boots that were peeping out from under the hem of her gown.

Ry grinned. That one little quirk made Winn his sister again rather than a younger version of their grandmother at her most aristocratic. "Better you than me. I don't think I could sit still long enough to let anyone do up like that."

"Neither can Winn." Cat sounded exasperated but looked proud. She knew that Winn was still concerned that Governor Swann might have some reservations about the wisdom of permitting her even a temporary place in his household. However, after allowing Elizabeth to issue the invitation, he couldn't possibly object to her presence unless Winn did something utterly outrageous. "She doesn't want to admit that a beautiful dress is just as useful a piece of armor as those spectacles she usually insists on wearing."

"Considering this was _all_ you had for me to wear, _I_ think I was rather gracious about the entire business," Winn sniffed as she shook out and arranged her skirts so that they hid her shoes. Ry didn't buy his sister's grumbling. He could see how Winn was stroking the soft silk with the tips of her fingers. The luxurious material had her approval even if the full skirts didn't.

Ry wrapped one arm around his wife, holding her close. "Was it much of a battle to get her into those things?"

"Yes, and as you can see, neither of us won." Cat smoothed a strand of auburn hair back into place.

"Speak for yourself. I think I made plenty of concessions to your mad whim to dress me like a doll." Winn propped her hands on her hips and mock-glared up at the taller couple.

"The sea-boots ruin the effect," Ry said.

"I like the extra height. Besides, what do you care? You're a man. You can wear boots wherever you like."

"But you look so nice. Why don't you wear dresses more often?"

"Because trousers are more practical aboard ship."

"You know, Freddy, you spend most of your time on land these days…"

Winn stuck her nose in the air and said in her haughtiest voice, "You're just trying to pick a fight while you know I can't do anything about it. Cat would skin me if I ruined all her hard work."

"Winn's right," Cat said as she gently smacked her husband on the back of the head. "Behave yourself."

Unable to keep her lips from quirking up, Winn asked "How long do we have until we reach Port Royal?"

* * *

Three days spent searching. Hours spent wandering through Tortuga's seedy markets with vendors trying to sell him things he could steal on his own and with less risk of having the original owners come after him. Bottles and pints of rum and ale bought to satisfy the dry throats of men who could only assure him that the map he had showed the waters between Italy and Greece. It wasn't until his fourth day of searching that Jack found someone who could translate the map for him. 

"You're sure these are directions of some kind?" his translator had asked through a mustache that made even Jack envious. "May I ask where you…acquired…this map?"

"From my great-aunt. Wonderful woman. Tragic the way she was trampled by a herd of wild…sea turtles. The only thing of value she had left in the world… Why?"

"Because there seems to be a message here. For you."

Jack had felt a sinking sensation somewhere near his money pouch. "For me?"

"Sì, Capitano."

He'd a very good idea of what that message was and whom it was from. Still, it'd be amusing to hear just how daring Winnie might be when she was certain of victory. "Well, what does it say?"

"It says 'Stop grumbling. You owed me a few days of your time. Thank you for your hospitality. I would be pleased to return the favor.'"

So that's how Jack found himself in his cabin, hat askew and with only one boot on as he paced wildly about. His memories since leaving the Italian with the truly magnificent mustache were fuzzy. For some reason he thought he might have been involved in a goat-milking competition at the _Faithful Bride,_ but that couldn't be right. Except, then where had all the black hair on his shirt come from?

"Gibbs!" He stalked to the door and roared for his first mate. "More rum!"

The order was forgotten almost as soon as it was made. He hadn't been so upset in ages.

_The…devious…little…**minx**._

Thought she could blatantly challenge and taunt a pirate, did she? Thought she could toe a line in the sand, dare him to step over it, and emerge unscathed?

Did she truly believe that he wasn't as reckless as she might imagine?

Well, he'd show her.

It didn't matter that he wasn't making sense even to himself. It didn't matter that without the promise of a big pay-off, he was going to have a hard time convincing his crew to go on a crack-brained, possibly life-endangering mission.

What mattered was the evil grin parting his lips and the thought of a very contrite Winnie taking her words back.

* * *

"I have no paints. Or canvas. Or even charcoal. How can I do a proper sketch without charcoal?" 

"You won't find any of those things here – well, except for canvas, but I don't think Ry would appreciate you cutting up his sails in the name of art." Cat watched as Winn wrung her hands and looked about her cabin as if some possession was still hidden away. "Fretting won't help," she said unsympathetically as she shooed Winn out of the cabin. "The carriage has been here for a quarter of an hour. Stop dithering."

"I'm not dithering," Winn said hotly as she allowed herself to be bustled along. "It's just that –"

"You're afraid of Governor Swann. Honestly, I never thought I'd see you so cowed, and by a bureaucrat at that. I've seen you face down the Captain without blinking an eye, but you're worried about what a notoriously diplomatic man will do."

"Notoriously diplomatic men don't come straight out and say what they think of you. Grandfather might roar at a body, but at least you know where you stand with him. There's no guessing. No disapproval hiding in the silences. He's a man who doesn't hide what he's feeling and I like that."

There was no point in letting Winn worry any more than she already had, and there was one subject that was guaranteed to make her think of something else. "You know, I've heard that Jack Sparrow –"

"Catherine!" Winn threw up her hands in exasperation. "I swear you're as bad as Elizabeth. He's a pirate. You can't believe everything you hear about the man."

Before Cat could give the teasing reply that was lurking in her eyes, Ry came over to the two women and took Winn's arm in order to guide her to the gangplank. "There you are. I thought you'd changed your mind about all this."

"Why do I feel as if I've suddenly become an unwelcome guest?" Winn drawled as she dug in her heels. As she was in slippers now it wasn't as effective as she might have hoped, but her resistance was noted.

"What you've become is a suddenly reluctant guest," Ry said as he stopped and bent over to meet her eyes. "Are you feeling alright?"

"She getting cold feet," Cat replied for Winn.

"I am not. I –"

"What's there to be worried about?"

Cat and Ry continued their conversation as if she weren't standing between them. "She's expecting a cool welcome from the Governor."

"No I'm not. I just –"

_Complain all ye like, lass._ A voice that was full of mischief and very reminiscent of Jack Sparrow sounded inside her head. _But I thought you had more of a backbone in you._

_Oh dear lord, give me strength,_ Winn thought in exasperation. Wasn't it enough that she was being nagged by her flesh and blood family? Did a phantom in her head really need to add its two pence?

"I'm going, alright? I'm fine, I do not have cold feet, I will not get a chilly reception, and I don't need an army backing me up."

"Now you sound a bit more like my sister." Ry grinned. "And though you may not need an army, we'll send Samuel along."

"Your cabin boy." Winn raised an eyebrow. "Why would I need a cabin boy?"

"To unload your carriage, of course." Ry tweaked her nose. "And to add to your consequence."

"There's people who would argue that I don't need any more 'consequence' than I already have," came the dry reply.

_Isn't that the truth. _"We'll see you tomorrow night for dinner at Marcus's house."

Winn followed the change of topic. "I'll be there. Don't breathe a word to Marcus about my little 'adventure.'"

"Afraid he might take his ship and go looking for your Captain Sparrow?"

"He's not _my_ Captain Sparrow. And it's more likely that Marcus would just laugh at me."

"Well…yes…he probably would. But then he'd offer to go hunt him down for you."

"Which would leave me to explain yet again that I don't want anything more to do with Sparrow, which includes not allowing my brothers hunt him down and pummel him relentlessly while crabs eat his toes and Marty chews on his beard until he's pleading for mercy."

"Creative, but I don't remember that being part of the offer I made."

"It should have been."

Ry stared at her with new appreciation. "You're evil."

"_I_ learned how to defend myself against my brothers. If that made me evil, you have no one to blame but yourselves."

"If we were so bad to you, why do I have this full purse for you?"

Winn took the bag with delight and looked inside. "Because you're finally starting to feel apologetic. Do you have any idea what I can buy with this?"

"Oh, I have plenty of ideas. But why guess when I can say for certain that you'll buy art supplies rather than the personal items I thought you might want."

"Paint brushes are very personal," Winn said absently. Ry was likely right. It wasn't her fault though that soap and tooth cleaning powder paled in comparison to paints and canvases.

* * *

Will Turner checked his surroundings to see if anyone was watching before he tugged at the tight collar of his shirt. A soft trill of laughter let him know he'd missed at least one observer. 

"Stop fidgeting with your clothing, Will. You look positively handsome." Elizabeth used the same dodgy look he'd just employed, then wrapped her hand around his wrist and pulled him into a secluded corner of the room. "What has you looking so tense?"

Will mumbled something as Elizabeth fussed with the folds of his neck cloth and swept wrinkles from the shoulders of his tailcoat. Her inquisitive smile teased his reply out of him a second time. "Lady Gertrude."

"Ah, Aunt Gertrude. She is terrifying, isn't she?" The impish smile he loved so much crinkled her eyes. Then the sound of the door opening reached them over the polite murmur of conversation in the parlor. Elizabeth froze, her eyes going distant as she tried to hear who the arrival was. The door closed and no announcement was made.

"You know who's even more terrifying than your aunt?" Will wanted to wipe all that worry and concern from his fiancée's face, but he was highly aware of how frail their privacy was. The best he could do was to twist his fingers with hers and attempt to distract her.

"Sir Anthony?"

Will winced. The curmudgeonly old man was certainly a force to be reckoned with. His two favorite topics were what was wrong with young people these days and morality tales of what happened to people who reached for more than they could keep hold of. "No, Winn."

Elizabeth smiled wryly. "How do you always know what I'm thinking, Will?"

"You haven't spoken of much else since her ship failed to arrive in port."

She sighed and tightened her fingers around his. For that first day or two Elizabeth hadn't been worried. Winn had written in her last letter that she had business to tend to before coming to Port Royal, and it wasn't inconceivable that she might have needed an extra couple of days to finish her work. Then that tropical storm had swept through, and Elizabeth hadn't had much time to be worried because she'd been swept up in making alternate plans for the betrothal ceremony and the following celebration. Moments of worry had been limited to the quiet moments between sleep and wakefulness. But she'd been so _certain_ that Winn would have made it here by _now_...

As the daughter of an important man however, Elizabeth had been taught to notice discomfort in those around her and she could see that Will didn't enjoy seeing her distraught any more than she enjoyed seeing him struggle to politely converse with her snobbish aunt and the rigid Sir Anthony. For his sake she asked, "Winn terrifies you?"

"Not anymore. She used to though. Just put yourself in my place. There I was, the sole survivor of a disaster at sea, stranded among strangers, and I wake up to find her stern face hovering over mine. I was sure that she was going to skin me alive if I so much as looked at her wrong."

Elizabeth's dark brown eyes went large with surprise. "Really? You never told me that."

"Yes, well, that was before I discovered that she'd rather tell stories and teach bawdy songs than dump someone overboard. She always seemed to have another pirate story to tell." And even though he had hated pirates, he had loved listening to her tell the tales anyway. She'd never tried to make the life glamorous. For every blood-stirring raid there'd been an ignoble end at sea or on the gallows. If the men in her stories had been larger than life, then their endings had been richly deserved.

"That's probably why she was looking so stern. I'd probably been asking for another story and she was probably thinking of what you might think if you woke up in the middle of it. Not that the danger of being overheard ever kept her from giving in eventually. It's amazing that we managed to keep it a secret from Father at all. Still, Winn taught me everything I know about pirates, including that ridiculous code." Elizabeth smiled, lost in memory.

Winn had moved in with Elizabeth and her family when Elizabeth was but seven and Winn fifteen. Before that, their mothers had been great friends, which was how Winn had come to live with the Swanns upon the death of her parents. An only child, Elizabeth had been thrilled when Winn to have someone closer to her own age suddenly in the house. When Elizabeth's mother had died a little more than a year after that, Winn had become the female role model in Elizabeth's young life, much to her father's chagrin, though he'd had been too bereft at the loss of his wife to take away any company that might comfort his daughter, and then it'd been too late to separate the pair.

Where Winn had been quietly headstrong, socially awkward, and perhaps too aware that she was living on the goodwill of others Elizabeth had been energetic, the darling of the adults in her small world, and perhaps a bit too demanding at times.

_Not that Winn ever felt any guilt over saying no to me if she thought I was asking for too much._ "I've missed her. And I always have to share her with her family when I see her now." Elizabeth smiled ruefully, fully aware of how selfish that sounded.

"And she doesn't tell you stories anymore," Will teased though there was understanding in his eyes.

"Oh, she still tells tales. They're just not about pirates." The stories that Winn told now all had _her_ at their center and she liked to pretend they were truth.

"You have your own stories about pirates now."

Elizabeth grinned, allowing herself to be distracted. "And Winn 'harrumphs' at them. She says that I'm too romantic and that there's no such thing as a pirate who's also a good man. Then I write back that if I have any romantic tendencies, then she certainly never did anything to rein them in. Besides, she's never met Jack."

"Do I need to remind you of how you felt about Jack Sparrow once?" The two exchanged smiles of secretive pleasure. Not only were they alone together, they were talking about something that would have the rest of the company in fits.

"What do you think he's –"

"Miss Winifred Morgan." The butler's stilted monotone announced. Elizabeth and Will both froze as the polite chatter outside their secluded corner ceased.

"Ah, Winifred. We're glad you were able to join us." Governor Swann's jovial tones reached the two lovers. "You're looking…healthy."

Winn's reply was too soft to hear but Elizabeth smirked, knowing that her friend never bothered to protect her skin from the sun and was likely tanned and freckled in stark opposition of the pale and powered faces that filled the parlor.

"Yes, well, I'm not sure where she got to. I would have expected her to greet you as soon as she heard you were here."

"Go," Will whispered in Elizabeth's ear. "Before anyone notices that we're both missing."

She met his eyes briefly before her gaze slipped down to his lips. "We can't be married soon enough," she said fervently before stepping out into the open. "Winn!"

Winn felt a wry smile tug at her lips as Elizabeth appeared out of nowhere and came gliding forward with outstretched hands. "Elizabeth." As they exchanged a subdued greeting – they were still the focus of most eyes – she whispered, "I suppose that since you're looking unruffled I shouldn't bother noticing that Will isn't anywhere to be seen."

"You're too suspicious, Winn."

Winn let the matter drop for the moment. Governor Swann was making throat clearing sounds. It was obviously time to do her duty as a good guest and allow herself to be introduced to the room's occupants. Though she did see one or two faces that looked familiar, Winn didn't look forward to the experience. She'd never learned how to feel comfortable around strangers and so never showed to advantage.

Sighing as heavily as her corset would allow, Winn placed her fingers on Governor Swann's forearm and allowed him to steer her to one of the few people she _did_ recognize: Lady Gertrude, matriarch of the Swann family and one of the most mean-spirited people Winn had ever encountered. She'd rather be back in the brig of the _Pearl_ than have to force herself to be polite to a woman who wouldn't bother to return the courtesy.

_I'm doing this for Elizabeth. I'm doing this for Elizabeth._ Still, as she viewed the lady's withered, disapproving face, Winn couldn't help but think, _If she bites me, I'll bite her back._

* * *

"Finally." Elizabeth followed Winn into the bedroom the older woman had been given. "I was starting to think Aunt Gertrude was never going to let us leave." 

"Elizabeth, your aunt is still a terror. And if she's not careful, the next time she asks me an invasive question, she's going to get an answer she won't like." Winn flopped down on the bed with no regard to her finery. As she'd learned on the _Pearl_she didn't like being treated without respect. But where Sparrow was teasing and good natured, Lady Gertrude was condemning.

"And spoil her fun?" Elizabeth was a bit more decorous as she took a seat, but mischief twinkled in her eyes. "I liked how she decided you weren't a suitable chaperone. I thought you were going to explode like a cannon right there at the dinner table."

"You're so good for my ego," Winn drawled. "I think the world conspires to make me feel like a short-tempered bully, and not a terribly successful one at that."

"That's not true. I may have _wished_ that you would have given Aunt Gertrude a piece of your mind, but I know you better than that. You go all quiet and sweet and helpful when you're at your angriest. What are you doing?"

Winn had hiked her skirts up around her knees so she wouldn't have to struggle to get off the high bed. "Help me get out of this contraption." When she didn't hear the bed frame creaking, she looked over her shoulder. Elizabeth was watching her with one raised eyebrow. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you too busy playing 'lady-of-the-manor' to lend me a hand so that we can sneak outside where my clearly unreliable chaperonage will be all that's between you and your blacksmith's brawny arms – What are you doing!" Winn nearly toppled over as Elizabeth bounded off the bed to give her a bear hug before dashing out of the room. "I hope she has the sense to get changed herself," Winn muttered to herself as she struggled to strip her gown from her shoulders. "No point tramping through dewy gardens in skirts that'll show watermarks. I have no intension of getting caught while helping her to break the rules. _That_ would be for amateurs."

Once she was dressed in a warm grey-green woolen gown – the Governor's residence was near enough to the water to get chilly at night when the breeze blew in from the sea – and had happily pulled her boots on, Winn grabbed a light cloak and cautiously peered outside her door. It wouldn't do to be caught by some older relation or acquaintance with an over inflated sense of respectability. No one was in sight so Winn made the short trip to Elizabeth's room. Her smitten friend was rushing to pull on cotton stockings and a pair of worn slippers.

"Your feet are going to get soaked in those."

"They're all I have," Elizabeth protested. "Well, besides my riding boots. But I haven't ridden in years and they're not exactly made for _walking._"

"Remind me to buy you a pair of real boots for your birthday. Calm down. I doubt Will is going to leave without seeing you."

"I don't want to keep him out too late. He has to work tomorrow. There! I'm ready."

Winn once again kept watch at the door, her ears straining to hear the sound of heels on hardwood that would precede anyone coming up the stairs.

All was silent.

"Alright. Let's go. No, not _that_ way." Winn tugged on Elizabeth's arm as she led the way to the concealed door to the servant's stairs. "How long has it been since you've snuck out of a house?"

"Not since we lived in England."

_Alright, so maybe I had a **little** bit of a bad influence on her._ "Good lord, what's taken you so long?" It was a rhetorical question and Winn sushed the reply as they quickly descended the stairs. All went smoothly until Elizabeth balked as the sound of voices in the kitchen below reached them.

"Winn, what about the servants? Won't they see?"

"Not tonight, they won't. Tonight I have paid well for turned heads and total ignorance. Just make sure that hood is up."

Elizabeth obediently pulled up her hood, not wanting to do anything that would keep her from seeing her sweetheart without having an audience watching their every move. "How did you pay for –"

"I persuaded Ry to part with a cask of brandy. Stop talking. If they don't hear your voice they won't have to feign so much ignorance. Not everyone is a capable actor."

They made it safely out of the house despite Winn's fuss. Looking around the small kitchen garden she sighed. Her plan only reached so far. "Alright. You lead. When I asked for someplace out of sight of the house Will said something about a swing?"

That was enough for Elizabeth who quickly guided them through the garden until they reached a far corner. There was indeed a swing. It hung from a large, gnarled kapok tree and moved back and forth in time to the gentle breeze. Waiting for them in the shadows cast by the leafy canopy was a caped figure with broad shoulders.

"Will," Elizabeth whispered excitedly before running across the small space between her and the strong arms that caught her up and swung her around.

_At least she remembered to keep her voice down. Old they may be, but most of the guests have dangerously sharp hearing I wager. _Winn turned her back. She told herself it was to give them a moment of privacy – despite rumors to the contrary, she did have a heart – but part of her knew that seeing Elizabeth's consuming joy made her feel…shut out. As if she was an outsider intruding on something she'd never understand. And she didn't like that feeling.

"Alright, you two. That's enough." Familiar words, but they were no longer being used to break up quarreling children. Not that Will had ever truly argued with Elizabeth on that voyage they'd all shared. They'd just been two children with no outlet for anything they felt. It had led everyone to be snappish at times.

Winn walked forward as the couple slowly broke apart, their eyes and hands lingering on each other before they turned in unison to face her. As the more vocal of the pair, Elizabeth asked the question she and Will had both been wondering. "We're so glad that you're finally here. Wewere getting worried. You had written you'd be arriving several days before the betrothal ceremony with good weather. Did the storm drive you that far off course?"

Winn made a face as she hiked herself up to sit on a low stone wall. "No. The storm was the least of my worries."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, there's a bit of a story behind that." Given the fondness for Jack Sparrow that Elizabeth had displayed in her letters, Winn was reluctant to share her entire experience on the _Black Pearl_.

"Must be a complicated one for you to be avoiding the question." Will leaned against the tree as Elizabeth took a seat on the swing.

Winn let out a loud sigh. "I hope you _do_ realize that it is only by virtue of our long and honest friendship that I am allowing you to badger me into answering your question where anyone might overhear us –"

"Winn! No one is going to overhear us! Answer the question!" Elizabeth was near laughter at Winn's verbose attempt to throw off her questioners.

"You always were a pesky child. Fine. I was late because I ran into a bit of an…

inconvenience."

Elizabeth was fascinated. She'd never seen her friend be so evasive. "What _kind_ of inconvenience?" Winn muttered something under her breath. "I'm sorry, Winn, I didn't catch that."

"I said, the kind of inconvenience named Jack Sparrow."

"Captain," Will and Elizabeth chorused, causing Winn to roll her eyes. Then Will grinned and Elizabeth started smirking.

Glaring, Winn stated, "It wasn't _funny_, Liz. The man is totally and completely insufferable."

"Oh, how I wish I could have seen the two of you go toe to toe." Winn's glare had no affect on Elizabeth. "You're both so determined to have things your own way. Though Jack's way of taking a crooked approach when a straight one would work just as well must have driven you _mad._"

"I'm so glad you understand how I felt about being forcibly removed from my ship, Liz. I really do."

Still trying to hold in her mirth, Elizabeth replied, "This from the woman, who upon hearing how I was threatened by the same man, said, 'Were you hurt? If not, the experience was probably good for you.' Are you actually asking me for sympathy?"

"Oh…did I actually send that draft of that letter to you?" Winn looked so distracted that both Will and Elizabeth broke down into laughter.

Collecting herself, Winn's brows snapped down with an almost audible click. Will stopped laughing, but Elizabeth the fearless, kept laughing. "I was at least expecting empathy from you, Liz."

"Alright then." Composing her face into the very image of a shocked gentlewoman, she spouted with dramatic flair, "Oh, my dearest and most fragile friend! Were you injured by the rapscallion?"

Winn's lips quirked. She suspected what was coming, and was prepared to face up to it. She was the one who had broached the topic after all. Playing along, she replied, "No. By the grace and mercy of God, I escaped with naught more than a dented ego."

"Then, my _dearest_ Winifred, I suspect the experience was probably good for you."

"I admit to nothing but I may have deserved that."

"How is Jack?" Will asked, curious for information.

"We get most of the news," Elizabeth continued, "but considering the Royal Navy is the source, I'm not sure we ever hear the whole story."

"And you think you'd get the whole story from Sparrow?" Winn snorted. "If that man can't sell something or use it to enrich the myth that has built up around him, then he doesn't bother with it."

"That's not fair," Elizabeth protested.

"Oh, you don't know how fair I force myself to be," Winn replied. "I know that by putting his life in danger he helped both of you, but he's a _pirate._ And I question his motives."

"What does _that_ mean?"

"That means that if he hadn't thought he had more to gain than to lose, he wouldn't have risked his neck. That's the nature of piracy." _If that's the nature of piracy, why didn't he just take you and be done with it? Why did he keep trying to seduce you so that you'd be willing to lie with him? He, after all, was facing a situation where all he could do was win. You were the one that would have lost. _Winn shrugged off the guilt her words inspired. That he'd been gentlemanly in one instance didn't mean she wasn't right about what motivated Sparrow deep down inside.

"You're wrong," Elizabeth said flatly. "You just don't know him –"

"He kidnapped me from my ship, Elizabeth. He admitted he had no reason to do so other than I somehow managed to catch his fancy and he had no intention of letting me go. If Ry hadn't in Tortuga, I'd _still_ be on the _Pearl_ and then a lot more hurt would have been caused than me just missing your betrothal ceremony."

When Elizabeth would have kept arguing, Will squeezed her shoulder and softly said her name. She looked up at him and he shook his head. This wasn't something worth fighting over. To Winn he said, "But you didn't. Miss the ceremony, that is. Because of the storm, it had to be postponed."

"I didn't?"

The quickly hidden look of dismay on Winn's face started to bring Elizabeth's sense of humor back. "No. It's in three days."

"Oh." Winn yawned after seeing Will do so.

"I've kept you up to late," Elizabeth fretted, getting up from the swing. "It's bad enough I've monopolized all your free time, Will. I can't take away your working hours as well. You'd better go."

The three said their goodbyes. Will climbed over the wall to make his way back to town and the two women walked back to the house arm in arm. In through the kitchen, up the stairs, a brief wait to make sure the household was settled in their rooms, then into the hallway.

"I do think you're wrong about Jack," Elizabeth whispered as they halted outside her door.

"I can live with being wrong about Sparrow. It's not as if I'm going to see him again."

"True." Hugging her friend briefly, Elizabeth whispered, "Thank you for being here tonight. It means so much to me to have you here. I promise we'll take things easy tomorrow. No more strangers for awhile. Sleep well."

"Good night." Winn watched as Elizabeth closed the door behind her then hurried to her own room. The inside of the house was too warm and humid, the windows all closed against the breeze outside. The sudden change had Winn's stomach churning. Once she was closed into her own room, Winn found her chamber pot and fought to keep from casting up her accounts. _I think all that rich food at dinner was a mistake._

The wave of nausea passed and Winn splashed cool water over her face with hands that shook. Climbing wearily into bed, dressed in a chemise because she didn't want to bother digging through her borrowed trunk for a nightdress, Winn thought, _I need to calm down before I go to sleep. I'm still anxious from dinner and I'll nave nightmares for sure if I remain this agitated. Where did my drawing pad get to?_ It was lying on the nightstand, exactly where she'd placed it in her search for a warmer dress. Reaching over, Winn picked it.

Opening to a blank page, she sat there staring at it for a good five minutes. Usually, Winn saw what wanted to be drawn as she looked at the freshness of a clean paper as if an image was hidden beneath the white surface, waiting for her to unleash it. What she saw now just made her mad. _No, I'll draw anything else,_ she begged. However the paper was silent and unrelenting. Seeing she had no choice, Winn began to reluctantly draw.

Slowly, but with increasing speed and surety, an image started to take form. Like so many of her other sketches, this was simply a pair of eyes. Losing herself in them, Winn worked quickly to finish, expelling her demons as it were.

Within fifteen minutes she was finished. She stared down into the eyes she had drawn. They were dark, mysterious, and impossible to read; the irises but a shade lighter than the pupils. They were surrounded by longish lashes and, like the eyes of many seamen, they had a sprinkling of crow's feet at the corners, lines caused by sun and wind and laughter. The brows were almost hidden by a strip of cloth, and there was a suggestion of beads at the extremity of the sketch.

Fascinated, Winn sat staring down into the eyes of a man she disliked. Whatever she thought of him personally, she had to admit that his appearance was captivating. Ever since she had looked up into them from the deck of the _Kestrel_, a yearning to draw them had been at the back of her mind. She had denied it, not wanting to admit that Jack Sparrow could make her want to do anything except stay out of his way. But now there was no way that he'd ever see it, so it was safe to give into the temptation.

_Why do you fascinate me so?_ she asked her drawing._ Why can't I forget you? Why should I want to? Why do I care?_ Winn had no answers to these questions, and she had no desire to search for them at this time. _Tired, so tired. _

The stresses of the day caught up with her abruptly. Closing her sketch book, Winn set it back on the nightstand, then leaned over and blew out the small oil lamp that had been lit for her. Settling into the pillows, listening to the waves through the window she had left open and watching the moon disappear into the horizon, Winn asked one last thing of her portrait before she fell asleep: _What are you looking at now? _

That night her dreams were full of the creaking of a ship at sea and the passing of the stars over her head.


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **School has started! Aaaahhh!!! runs and hides I've become an author transplanted into a graphic arts program. There's lots and lots of drawing involved and I'm taking 17 credit hours this term. I'll try not to let updates lag too long and I welcome all comments, constructive criticism, and goading pokes once weeks have gone by without a word from me. ;)

Replies to reviews are being sent out as soon as this is posted, and then it's nose back to the grindstone…or at least pencil back to the 14"x17" recycled paper sketch pad.

* * *

_She turned around and looked back._ Jack Sparrow sat in his cabin planning…thinking…chasing his wandering thoughts while a mostly full bottle of rum sat in front of him. It had been an uphill battle trying to come up with a plan that his crew was willing to risk their limbs for. Now that the _Pearl_ was finally under sail, he was taking a moment to rest. Tortuga might provide an abundance of what made life interesting to live, but it was short on peace. The _Black Pearl_ might be all that represented freedom in his life, but at times it was so much more. With that freedom came the quiet of watery expanses, the cleansing scent of the trade winds, and the lulling creak and slap of the hull moving across the waves. Not to mention his freedom provided an escape from all that peace whenever life got too monotonous. There was nothing like a good fight and another round of indulgence to make peace look appealing. 

And there was nothing like the absence of a certain short tempered shrew to make all this serenity look pretty tame. Though he knew the presence of that map of hers was part of what made the thought of her appealing.

Jack would be the first to admit that his motives were purely selfish. He was no longer concerned about how Winn would feel about being shanghaied – nautical term, that – a second time. If anything, she should consider it a lesson in humility, something she needed badly in his opinion.

_Be a shame to bank all that fire though._ If he could just find a way to redirect it. His preferred direction was into his bed, but that had failed dismally. And while he wanted to see her humbled, he didn't necessarily want to see her come to hate him. That'd be like taking the potency out of rum or removing the soft _crsshh…_ from the waves or the _shssss…_from the wind that filled his sails.

It was a puzzle to consider.

* * *

The next morning, Elizabeth sat at the breakfast table, surprised to find herself there alone. She knew she was a late riser, but she was certain that the footman had said that Winn hadn't risen yet. And she seemed to remember Winn being an early riser. 

She looked up from buttering her blueberry scone to see Winn coming down the stairs. The yawning woman was wearing a stylish walking dress of dusty blue that was embellished with cream and navy embroideries. "There you are. I was just wondering if you were going to sleep all day long."

"Why is it that people keep taking me to task for sleeping a tad bit late?" Winn asked patiently as she sat in the seat that was held out for her.

"_I've_ never known you to sleep so late."

"You've never known me when I didn't have an entire list of things to complete before noon. I hate to disturb your rosy memories of the past, but someone had to be up early to get _you _ready for the day and I was able to accomplish the task the fastest." Winn wished she still had her spectacles. She was much more intimidating when she was able to look up over the frames. "I still rise early at Grandfather's, but while I'm here, I'm a lady of leisure and I'll sleep however long I want to." To prove her point, Winn stuck her tongue out at her friend.

"You're disagreeable this morning."

"I'm always disagreeable in the morning until I've had proper time to wake up. That's how I complete that list of things to do before luncheon – everyone cooperates with me rather than deal with my bad temper. I slept well last night though, so this shouldn't last for much more than an hour."

"Are you sure you slept well?"

"Why do you ask?" Winn queried as she set her napkin in her lap.

"Our rooms are right next to each other. I could hear you muttering to yourself in your sleep."

Winn froze, a few hazy scraps from the dreams she'd had the night before floating through her mind. None of them were anything she'd like overheard. "Did I say anything interesting?"

"You mean, were you talking about anyone in particular?" Elizabeth asked, fishing for more information than she had.

Winn caught on to her angle immediately. "Elizabeth Swann, don't torment your elders."

"You're not _that_ much older than I am."

Winn looked up from the cup of tea to which she'd diligently been adding cream and sugar. She examined Elizabeth for a moment – particularly the look in her eyes. "I think I agree with you," she murmured after a moment. "You've grown up since I saw you last. There must be something about choosing the path of your life that matures one."

"And by being captured by pirates."

"It all comes back to that, doesn't it?" Winn muttered, though she was pleased that Elizabeth had lightened the moment with her refusal to leave the topic alone. "Unlike some people I know, Miss Swann, I did not ask for a parley. I did not volunteer to board a pirate ship."

"I'd _assumed_ that. I doubt you'd mutter so much about something that you had decided to do on your own. You're usually the biggest supporter of your own ideas."

"That's because, dear Elizabeth, all _my_ ideas are good ones." Winn had a decidedly superior look on her face.

Innocently, Elizabeth inquired, "What about that time you broke your arm because you decided to climb fifty feet up into a tree just so you could draw an oncoming storm and fell when the winds started blowing your tree every which way?"

"I was a child. I know better now."

"How about the time you decided to ride that half-broken horse that Father bought, and it threw you into a clump of stinging nettles?"

Winn rolled her eyes, a slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she remembered the last time she'd mentioned those same nettles. "That was a slight miscalculation of my riding abilities. And understandable considering the dratted horse stood still until I'd gotten onto its back."

"And the time we stole that fisherman's boat and tried to sail around the point and got stranded on that rock for hours until the tide came back in?" Elizabeth asked.

Grinning, Winn said, "That's where you just lost this argument, Liz. That was Richie's suggestion to get us out of his hair, and since your father still doesn't know about that, we should keep mum. Are you finished questioning me, ormay I eat?"

The rest of the morning passed amicably between the two friends. Despite having kept busy writing to each other every month or so for the past nine years, they had seen each other rarely, the last time being when Winn had come to Port Royal for the birth of Marcus's youngest child almost a year ago. There were many questions about past letters, greater details given to specific escapades, and much laughter shared.

By the time luncheon finished, Winn knew all about Elizabeth's ordeal, and Elizabeth had wheedled more information out of Winn than she wanted to give about the rivalry between Winn and the pirate captain. Their conversation continued as they waited for their wraps to be brought to them so that they could leave the house.

"I know that the man is somewhat conceited, peculiar, and so forth, but he really isn't as bad as all that," Elizabeth quietly said to Winn as she watched carefully for any other houseguest that might invite themselves into their conversation. "Will himself helped Jack escape last summer, and you know how Will feels about pirates. Even I stood up for the man."

"You only became involved because you love Will and you hoped that he wouldn't get into as much trouble for his actions if you were there to share the consequences. You were _not_ motivated because you necessarily like Captain Sparrow even if you do feel a certain…_romanticism_ for his lifestyle."

Elizabeth's face took on a mulish cast. "I _did_ feel sorry for Jack when he discovered that his crew had run off with his ship, and I thought that it was a terrible injustice to hang the man simply because he stayed to help us."

Winn sighed. It was no use pointing out that as a pirate, Sparrow had hardly done anything for purely altruistic reasons. Elizabeth had the bit between her teeth and was refusing to be reined in. "If I agree that I might – _might_ – have liked the man had we met under different circumstances will you let this go?"

"No. If you've admitted that you could like Jack under different circumstances, then why can't you admit the real reason you don't like him?"

Winn couldn't fathom why this was so important to her friend, and her refusal to let the conversation die a graceful death was starting to frustrate her. "Considering what _has_ happened between us, Liz, I simply can't excuse the man's behavior. It's not just that he's pushy, or that he enjoys annoying me for annoyance's sake, or that he sticks that long nose of his in where he isn't wanted. Or that he's rude. You forgot to mention that he's rude. It isn't even that he left my crew sail-less."

"Then what is it?" Elizabeth demanded.

"It's no wonder you defend him so passionately," Winn snapped. "You both have the same inability to understand when something should be left well enough alone. Thank you." She took her wrap from the footman and took her time donning it to give herself time to calm down. She didn't want to fight. Fighting with Sparrow was bad enough. Fighting with her friend _over_ Sparrow was just about as low as things could get.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth was waiting for Winn to raise her eyes so she could press on. "_That's_ not an answer to my question."

Winn sighed in resignation. "Why are you pressing the issue? What is it that you want me to say?"

"I just think there's more to this than you're admitting, Winn. I've never known you to take such a resolute dislike to someone."

Becoming increasingly tired of this conversation, Winn said flippantly, "Fine. I also can't stand the way the man dresses. May we drop this? I thought Will was waiting for us to join him at some point today."

Knowing that she wasn't going to win any other concessions, Elizabeth gave in to Winn's desire to drop it. "He is. He's so excited to show you the smithy."

Smiling in relief Winn said, "And I'm excited to see it."

* * *

The smithy was not particularly different from the others that Winn had visited…which is to say that it was cramped, dark, dingy, and smelled strongly of smoke, though there were some differences. One addition that set it apart from the others was an enormous gear-work tool-holder that took up most of the space in the small building and that fascinated Winn. The other difference was this one belonged to someone she knew. From where she stood in the entryway of the building, Winn tore her eyes from the construction and examined the rest of the room. Seeing the drop off from the landing, she wondered, _How many people have fallen flat on their face after coming in here? Especially on days when you come in blind from the sun? _

Elizabeth, who was familiar with the layout of the building, didn't bother looking at the smithy as intently as she looked for the smith. "Will? Where are you?"

"Back here." Will emerged from a back storeroom, a bucket in his hand. "I needed more water." Setting his burden down by the forge, Will came over to offer his assistance to the two women.

"Nasty little drop you've got there. Did the builder forget to put in an extra step, or did he simply not care?" For once Winn accepted the helping hand gracefully and gratefully. Elizabeth had talked her out of wearing her sea-boots, so her feet were shod in dainty slippers that – though she was woman enough to admit they looked quite nice – did little to improve her footing.

Will grinned as he took his time in helping Elizabeth down. "I'm not sure, actually. I'm in the process of buying the building from my old master and in all the time I was with him, he neither said nor was ever sober enough to ask." Will's eyes slanted over to Elizabeth and the pair shared the kind of smile spurred by a secret joke between two people. "Normally I didn't mind, it's not as if he had anything left to teach me at the end, but he had the habit of waking up at rather…inopportune moments."

Deciding she didn't really want to hear the story behind that, Winn wandered over to the gears that'd caught her eye to study them more closely.

From the use the tools hanging from the gears showed, it was obvious that while Will was comfortable with the varied forms of craftsmanship his trade required. It was equally obvious that his true love (other than Elizabeth of course) was forging swords. They surrounded the enormous shafts that supported the equally enormous gears, there were dozens of them nestled into every corner and nook; there was even several in a rack next to a large grindstone, obviously waiting to have an edge put on them.

Picking one up and examining it, Winn commented, "I see Liz wasn't exaggerating when she said that business was booming, and I can see why. This is a beautiful sword, Will. You must be proud. No wonder they're in such demand." Glancing up from her inspection of the finely crafted weapon, Winn looked a self-conscious Will in the eye. "I'll take two whenever you can fill the order."

Will looked stunned. "Two? But that's –"

"I'm well aware of the cost, Will Turner." The look on his face caused Winn to smile. "Frankly, I think I'm the one getting the better part of the bargain. Grandfather and Ry will be pleased to get these."

"What about you? Or have you given up on the sword entirely?" Will, looking a bit less like a stunned fish, was starting to get curious.

Winn blushed in embarrassment, but she didn't try to wiggle out of an explanation. "I'm afraid that I was forced by necessity to leave my sword on the _Black Pearl._ That I'm perhaps using the excuse that I had no other choice but to abandon it is beside the point."

"If you don't mind my asking, why is your sword on the _Pearl_?" Will had a feeling there was a story behind this, and Winn's dry humor made her stories something to be enjoyed no matter what one's age.

Winn flushed a dull red. "Well, I'm not sure how it got there. I can only assume some enterprising pirate made sure to gather all weapons from the _Kestrel._ But it was returned to me after I…um…challenged Sparrow to a duel. Of sorts. Though to be fair, he let me keep it even though I beat him. Well, cheated in order to beat him." Will's incredulous look prodded Winn to add, "He's a pirate though, so it doesn't really matter that I cheated, because I likely only cheated first."

"_You_ beat Jack Sparrow in a sword fight?"

"There's no need to sound so skeptical, Will. You'll hurt my tender feelings. And, I never said I beat him in a sword fight. I said I won the fight."

Of course, Winn wasn't able to leave things at that. Both Elizabeth and Will demanded to hear the entire story, though she made certain she stopped well before they heard anything about the tending that Sparrow had demanded in return.

Once Will had gotten over the fact that Winn had been mad enough to even think about crossing swords with Jack Sparrow, he turned his attention to finding the right swords for her family – and over her protests – for Winn herself.

"Now, what have do I have around here fit for a lady?" Will muttered as he surveyed the room, his mind running an inventory while his eyes roamed to locate each.

"Ladies don't carry swords."

"You do."

"Well, I'm hardly a lady."

"I'm aware of that, but you _do_ have the hands of a lady." He pressed his palm to hers, easily dwarfing her hand. "See? Most of these swords have handles that are meant to fit larger hands. I need to find something with a smaller grip." Letting her hand go, he returned to his mental inventory.

"I learned how to fight with a sword that was too big for me, Will."

"Not very well, from what you've told me. Now stop trying to gracefully refuse. It's rude. I know I have something around here that will be better than 'satisfactory.' If I don't, then I can make something. A swordsman, or woman, is only as good as their weapon."

Winn watched him, trying to hide her doubt. _If too large a sword was all that was wrong with my swordsmanship, Grandfather would have done something to fix that years ago._

After several minutes, Will strode forward decisively. Picking up a sword only slightly smaller than the rest, he handed it over. "I don't know about this, Will," Winn said as she took it with some misgiving. "I need a larger sword to fight effectively against larger opponents –" she started to protest. Then the full weight of the weapon coming to rest in her hand caused her to stop; the sword was heavier than it looked. Testing its balance, she found it to be perfect in her hand, the weight and heft better than any sword she'd ever used. She looked up at Will, a question in her eyes.

"I cored the handle with lead, which balanced it and allowed me to keep the blade longer than I would normally would for a grip that size." Winn nodded in comprehension, returning to her study of the blade.

It was an understated weapon. The only decoration was on the hilt where the black leather of the grip was inlaid with copper wire. In the dark the copper nearly disappeared; in the sun it would glitter like the dying embers of a fire. She loved it.

"Will…it's perfect," she breathed. "I'll take it."

"You had better; it _is_ a gift after all. The last time I checked it was rude to refuse a gift, though that didn't keep you from trying."

Winn looked up sharply. "Oh, Will, I couldn't possibly accept this."

"Don't make me challenge you to a duel over the matter." Winn returned his mischievous smile even though the thought of dueling made her inwardly wince. Sword work was a science of sorts. There was no room for a lost temper, and her control on her emotions slipped much too often to allow her to excel even if she took the time to burn all the motions into her muscles. Which she never had.

"Dueling? That sounds rather ambitious, Will. Despite what I told you, I haven't touched a sword in months. And not only am I rusty on technique, I'm hardly dressed for it today. These blasted skirts would just get in the way. You'd have me beat within seconds, which would hardly benefit my reputation."

Will shrugged, half in agreement, half in bewilderment. How anyone could find sword fighting boring was beyond him. "Do you want to take these with you now, or leave them here to be picked up later?"

"It would probably be best if I had a footman fetch them. I don't think I could carry them down the street without incurring the wrath of every gossip in port."

Looking at Elizabeth, Winn added regretfully, "I think it's time for us to leave. I still have gifts to buy for the tots before I arrive at Marcus's for dinner." Giving Will a brief hug, Winn whispered, "Thank you so much. I will treasure that sword for as long as I have it."

* * *

"Don't be ridiculous. If I don't show up on his doorstep looking like this, Marcus will wonder if I'm actually his sister." Winn was wearing the same clothing that she had been wearing while on the _Pearl _though the outfit had been laundered and pressed since then. Elizabeth lounged on the bed, looking wronged. 

Meeting her friend's eyes in the mirror, Winn said, "Don't give me that look. I know you Elizabeth Swann, and I remember the stunts you used to pull, so don't go around acting as if I'm completely and utterly hopeless when it comes to behaving like a proper female. You know you'd love to change out of your skirt and into something like this."

"I know, I know. You're right. I'm envious." Elizabeth continued to watch Winn get ready to leave. "If I didn't think it'd shock my father into his grave I wouldn't hesitate to follow your lead." However, apparel was the last thing on her mind at the moment. "Winn? Have you ever wondered if there's someone out there for you?"

Winn, somewhat stunned by the abruptness of the question, briefly paused in her preparations. She had to carefully consider her answer before daring to answer. If Elizabeth had thought to ask the question in the first place then she'd only be placated by the truth, even if it were just a hint of truth. "Of course I have. Who hasn't wondered that in a quiet moment? It's not something I've spent time worrying about though. If it happens, it happens. I simply have better things to do with my time than try to _make_ it happen." All truth. "What would make you ask such a silly question?" All patronizing older sibling.

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed a bit at the dismissal and her lips pursed. _Nothing is ever easy with Winn._ "It's getting harder and harder to wait until I can marry Will, and I was just wondering…if you ever…"

Winn knew by the careful way that Elizabeth was enunciating her words that she was a tad bit peeved by being put off. "You want to know if I ever changed my mind about getting married?"

"I don't remember the word 'marriage' being used. The words I remember are 'I'd rather be a pirate's doxy than ever fall in love.'"

"I was fifteen. And since when is love a requirement for marriage? Yes, it's nice, I can see that. I'm not so daft as to say that I don't want to _be_ loved. But there's plenty who marry without it, and who go on to live content lives."

"_Contentment_," Elizabeth scoffed. "Stop being ridiculous, Winn. You'd hate that kind of life and you know it. You're so…passionate."

"Passion," Winn said quietly, "can lead you to do very stupid things, Elizabeth." _And sometimes it's very uncomfortable to be passionate._ "I think contentment would suit me just fine."

Considering her own nature, Elizabeth understood where Winn was coming from, but she couldn't hide her amusement. "You're so hardheaded that the only kind of man who'd have you would be passionate himself, ever think of that?"

_Jack appreciated my passion._ Winn's cheeks immediately flared with heat. She pressed the backs of her hands against them as she struggled to push those kinds of ideas out of her head. When she was once again under control, she turned with a rueful smile to speak to her friend. "What's brought this on? Are you suddenly feeling sorry for your friend who's quickly becoming an old maid? Don't be." Winn came over and hugged Elizabeth around the shoulders, and crossed her fingers once her hands were out of sight to excuse the small lie she was about to tell. "I'm happy with my life, Liz. Really. You don't need to start nosing around to find me a mate. Lord only knows who you'd see fit to match me with." The comment drew a chuckled from them both, as it'd been intended to. "I'm content. Leave it at that."

Getting up from the bed, Winn said briskly, "Now, if I don't leave at this very moment, I am going to be late for dinner, and you know how much I hate being late." Kissing Elizabeth on the cheek, she continued, "I expect I shall return rather late tonight, probably after you're in bed. So, sleep well. It won't do for you to have circles under those dark eyes of yours. Suspicious minds may suspect you of untoward doings." Winn strode across the room, determined not to give Elizabeth time to disagree with her. "Sweet dreams," she called as she stopped to pick up her box of painstakingly chosen presents.

Elizabeth laid on the bed for a bit longer after Winn left, a small frown marring her face. She was worried about her friend. Since having her way cleared to marry Will, she could hear the emptiness of Winn's arguments. _Not that my hearing the falseness of it will do me any good. She's the one who has to be convinced that she's lying to herself. And she ran away hoping that I would forget the matter by tomorrow…and she keeps saying she knows me._ Rising to go change for her own supper, Elizabeth saw the sketch book lying on the nightstand. _ I wonder… _

She opened to the back of the book and started flipping pages until she reached the last sketch. What she saw made her open her eyes in astonishment, before she started to grin. "And here I thought she couldn't stand the man." After the ceremony, once all the guests were gone, she was going to corner Winn and not let her rest until she told the _entire_ story of what had happened on the _Black Pearl. _

* * *

Marcus had three girls, Margaret (Meggie) age four, Elsa age three, and Zoë age sixteen months. They were perfect little copies of their parents, having Marcus's dark chestnut hair and deep blue eyes, and Grace's endless amounts of energy, curiosity, and laughter. 

Though the children were deeply delighted with the gifts she'd brought them, Meggie had surprised Winn with a present of her own. "Auntie Winn! Auntie Winn! Come see what we _gots_ you!" She had taken Winn's hand in her own chubby one, and proceeded to pull her out of the house towards what appeared to be an outdoor woodshed.

The two were followed closely by Elsa who was chattering happily, "Aun'win, Aun'win, Aun'win gonna see!" The child hadn't quite gotten her "T's" down yet. Zoë, demanding to come along, had already taken up residence in Winn's arms.

Opening the door to the woodshed, Elsa and Meggie scampered inside, giggles soon degenerating into, "No, _I_ wanna give it to her!"

Peering into the dark, Winn called, "Why don't you both bring it out?"

Several seconds later the two girls reappeared, Meggie in front with her arms in back of her and Elsa standing closely behind. "You gotta kneel down, Auntie Winn. It'll roll off if you don't."

_What in the world have the girls gotten me_? Winn wondered as she did as she was told. "Okay, now hold out your arms and close your eyes." Once again following the orders of her small audience, Winn was tempted to peek as she felt something settle into her arms. It was alive, whatever _it_ was.

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yes."

Winn opened her eyes to find a puppy of indeterminate origin in her lap. Zoë, delighted to be so close to the tiny fur ball, started laugh and bang the animal on the head. Though the dog didn't seem to mind – it was trying to get to Zoë's face – Winn gently removed her niece from her lap and picked up the tiny bundle.

It was definitely a dog. Discreetly looking between the animal's legs, she saw that it was a female. It had wiry grey hair, surprisingly blue eyes, and a very pink tongue. The tips of its ears flopped over, as if they had gotten tired of standing up straight. It was currently occupied with smelling Winn's clothing. Stopping and looking up at her it yipped. Winn, against her better judgment, fell immediately in love.

"Oh girls, she's beautiful. Where did you find her?"

Margaret, being the more outgoing of the sisters, said, "Daddy took us out last week to get a kitty, and the place we went? They had puppies too, and me and Elsa thought we should get you one since you live all alone." Elsa, losing interest in the conversation, went running back to the house, presumably to find the kitten the girls had gotten.

"Who told you I live all alone?" Winn was curious as to who had said such a thing. She lived with her grandparents, itinerant relatives, and she traveled. She was rarely alone for more than a few hours at a time though it was undeniable that she was certainly feeling lonelier than her life called for.

"Papa and Mamma were talking, and Papa said that it wasn't good for you to live alone, and that you needed to find someone. So me and Elsa decided to find someone for you. Did we do a good job?"

Considering this was coming from the same brother who'd greeted her with, "What does Ry mean when he says you didn't tear Sparrow limb from limb?" Winn wasn't too happy. Did no one keep their noses out of the business of others anymore? But her niece's face was so earnest, that Winn had to smile. "You did an excellent job. What do you think I should name this little lady?"

Meggie's face screwed up in concentration. _To bad their father isn't nearly as adorable. _

"How about 'Pigeon'?"

"That sounds like a wonderful name. How did you choose it?"

"Well, Great-Grandpapa says that no proper Morgan names anything 'cept after birds. How come I'm not named after a bird?" Meggie was looking somewhat confused, as if the idea had just occurred to her.

"You are, darling. Your middle name is 'Dove,' remember? Let's go inside. I think your sister wants to show me your kitten." Tucking Pigeon into the crook of one arm and taking hold of Zoë's with her free hand, Winn and her nieces made their way back to the house.

"We named the kitty Kiwi," Meggie said as she looked up at her aunt.

"I'm sure you did. That's a very proper Morgan name."

* * *

Winn returned to the Swann residence well after midnight, exhausted but happy. She made her way up the stairs on silent feet so as to not wake her sleeping burden. Having been fully assured that the pup was housebroken while at her brother's, Winn entered her room and shut the door behind her. 

A lamp was burning on her nightstand and the moon was shining in through the uncovered windows. By their light, Winn made up a bed for the pup in a basket she had purloined from the entryway. Using one of the numerous blankets in the room as padding, she set Pigeon down. _Pigeon, what a wonderfully typical Morgan name. Grandfather and his obsession with birds._ "I think we'll be calling you Pige for short, youngster," Winn whispered.

Taking care to lock her door to forestall any early morning visitors, Winn stripped down to her camisole and climbed into bed. She was half asleep when she heard a quiet yip from the floor. Reaching down, she picked up the forlorn Pige. The puppy quickly took advantage of the situation to settle herself against Winn's stomach. Then with each keeping the other company, the two females drifted into sleep.

* * *

It was half past nine when Winn woke the following morning. What she saw made her immediately leap out of bed. Pige had discovered the joy of shoes. At the moment she was working diligently to get her mouth around the toe of one of Winn's boots. Rescuing her beloved boot, Winn scolded the pup. "No, there will be none of that, youngling. If you must chew on a shoe, here's one of my slippers. Content yourself with that and leave my _real_ shoes alone." 

Winn quickly got ready for the day, finding another set of clothes like her shipboard ones in the very bottom of her trunk. This set had a white shirt, charcoal grey pants, and a light violet tunic. _Thank you,_ Winn thought to whoever had included the clothes in her limited selection.

Getting dressed quickly, Winn eyed her hair as she started to put it up. Deciding against her normal style, she braided it into a crown around her head. That done, she left the room and started sneaking down the hallway towards the servant's entrance. That evening there was to be a large "entertainment" involving all the Swanns' varied guests and Winn was determined to have some time alone before suffering through it. However, the canine closed up in her room objected to being left behind. Hearing Pige's whimpers of protest and the soft sound of a door being pawed at, Winn doubled back and scooped her up.

This time Winn made it down to the kitchens before she was waylaid. Elizabeth was speaking to Cook about something, until the dog was spotted. Elizabeth cooed and the cook scolded, and Winn found herself and her pet in the garden in no time at all.

"You're trouble," she informed the struggling burden in her arms as she sat down on a bench and waited for Cook to return with a plate of food leftover from breakfast. Pige just licked her face and jumped down to dart forward at Elizabeth's skirts.

"Wherever did you get a puppy, Winn? It's so adorable! Is it a he or a she?"

"She's a gift from Meg and Elsa."

"Oh…" Elizabeth cooed as she crouched down to pet the ball of fur bouncing around her feet. "What's her name?"

"Pigeon."

Elizabeth laughed. "Why does your family have this strange compulsion to name things after birds?"

"It's Grandfather's obsession, and it's spread to the young ones. He's completely fascinated by birds. Any birds."

Elizabeth looked up and took notice of Winn's clothes for the first time. "Oh good. I'm glad you didn't bother with a dress right away. Will just sent a note around and said he'd be glad to show you a few simple tricks with your new sword if you're up for it."

Winn accepted a plate of food from a kitchen maid and resigned herself to company for the rest of the morning though she wasn't nearly as disappointed as she told herself she was.

The remaining days of the house party passed in much the same way. The arrival of the sun every morning revealed the heightened anxiety in both Will and Elizabeth. By the day before the ceremony everyone was just ready for the event to be over.

It was on that day that Winn found herself commandeered to make flower chains. They were meant to be hung over the reception area, along with lengths of colored silk and bunting. Winn thought it was a good idea, in theory. The practical application of the idea, however, nearly drove her mad before she rebelled and took herself away to the beach.

Apologizing to Elizabeth on her way out, Winn made a clean getaway and spent the rest of the day, from mid-afternoon until after sunset, walking along the water's edge and wondering where she was going to be and what she was going to be doing after she left Port Royal.

* * *

There was an island just a mile or so from the mouth of Port Royal harbor that was riddled with caves and crevasses – sometimes called "chines" – many of them large enough for a ship to take harbor in. Most captains were reluctant to do so because these crevasses could be notoriously unstable, but Jack, being Jack, steered his ship into one such rift with the ease of practice. 

"Capt'n, are you sure that this is a good idea? Takin' harbor so near Port Royal and its garrison? Should we be caught in here it would be the gallows for us all if the rocks don't come down on us first." Gibbs stood nearby fretting and fussing.

"I've explained this to you once already, Gibbs. This is the best place to take anchor while I'm ashore. The Navy patrols this area but only once every fortnight, the last time they did so being five days past. That leaves plenty of time for me to spend a day or two ashore before we leave without bein' detected."

Judging they were far enough inside the cleft as to be invisible to any passing ships, Jack called to his crew, "Drop anchor, lads. We'll anchor here. I shall go ashore tonight." Returning to his conversation with Gibbs, Jack made the second of his three points for staying here. "Secondly, no one will be looking for pirates to berth here, seeing as how it is but a mile from Port Royal. Pirates sail in, raze, sack, and vandalize, and then sail back out. They don't stop a mile from the target and take a breather. And lastly," reaching this point, his favorite one, Jack spread his hands in an idiosyncratic manner, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Trust me."


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Note…**this is the first chapter (of this fic) that I've written entirely while I've been in school. I'm rather proud of myself. It didn't take too long, did it?

crickets

Oh well, I'm proud of myself. Lots of changes in this chapter, but it should all be good fun. And the next chapter should be _lots_ of good fun. Can't wait to get to it. ;)

Responses being sent out once this is uploaded.

Enjoy!

* * *

As the setting sun announced the onset of dusk to the small seaside community of Port Royal, Jack gave the last of his instructions to his gathered crew. Content that he would find a ship waiting for him when he returned, Jack dismissed them, then walked to a nearby launch. 

Gibbs followed behind, expecting to receive some final orders. "Now, I am leaving you in command of m'ship," Jack said flippantly though the matter was anything but light. He had an easier time entrusting his life to someone else than he did handing over the care of his ship for even a night or two. "If some element of this plan should run astray, go to Tortuga and I will do my best to meet you there." Letting go of the gravity he had assumed to emphasize his point, Jack said with his normal jovially, "However, since I am the one who made the plan, there is little that should go amiss. I shall rendezvous with you here in three days."

* * *

Jack covered the rough mile and a half between his ship and his chosen landing point with minimal fuss. That was the good thing about working on one's ship even though one was the captain – it kept you fit. While he carried no light, the moon had just reached its fullness the night before, so there was plenty of light for him to navigate by. 

Reaching shore, Jack quickly and quietly beached his boat. There was no need to hide it for this stretch of beach was surrounded by cliffs that were difficult to traverse, and it was unlikely that anyone would walk this far east on a pleasure jaunt. As he was surveying the small craft to ensure it was past the high water mark, Jack heard the yap of a small dog and a woman's voice slowly growing closer. Silently moving into the shadows of some nearby undergrowth and laying down on his belly to take full advantage of the protection it offered, Jack cursed under his breath. _What kind of feather brained female roams secluded beaches at night with only a small dog as company? _

_ Hopefully the kind that won't take notice of a rowboat lying abandoned on an equally abandoned beach, _answered his inner voice as the dog he had heard came into view. It started sniffing the sand, apparently catching Jack's scent. Just as it was about to dive into the undergrowth in search of him, the woman's voice distracted it.

"Pige! Don't you even think of it!"

_And now I know what type of woman,_ Jack thought as he stifled a groan. _What is **she** doing here? This really must be the last time I underestimate her. _The temptation to grab her now, hogtie her, and take her back to the _Pearl_ for a thorough reaming for her foolishness was strong. He battled it down as the woman arrogantly continued.

"There is no way that I am searching for you in all that, youngling. You lose yourself in there and I am going home without you. Come back here, 'tis time we headed back to the house. They must be done with the preparations by now and I haven't eaten since midday."

The dog went racing to its owner, who was grumbling something about having a long walk ahead of her. Jack raised his head to look between the broad leaves of the plants he'd hidden behind to catch a glance of his ultimate prey. She was dressed in colors that made her blend into the night. Long wisps of hair had come loose from their arrangement, presumably due to the wind that had picked up with the setting of the sun. He could see them dancing in the moonlight. As he watched, she reached up and impatiently brushed them away from her face. In one hand she carried her boots; her feet were barefoot in the sand.

Pige was frolicking around said feet, bouncing and panting with the uncountable enthusiasm that all puppies and young children have. Jack watched as Winn tried unsuccessfully to catch the pup up in her arms. After her third failed attempt, Winn propped her hands on her hips and said in a rather frosty voice, "Pigeon. Come here _now_." Jack and the dog both recognized trouble when they heard it.

Pige, crawling forward and making apologetic doggy sounds, finally allowed her mistress to pick her up. Scratching the dog between the ears, Winn muttered, "For all that you're listening to me, I should have named you Jack, or at the very least Sparrow. That might suit a flighty thing like you a bit better, huh girl?" While her words sounded irritated, she was smiling slightly, though it was probably because of her pet and not from the thought of him. Though Jack was optimistic and did consider that she might be feeling a bit more kindly about him now that she thought she'd gotten her way.

Winn, unaware that she was under intense observation spared only a glance for the boat (after all, it _was_ getting late), and set off back down the beach, leaving Jack undiscovered. Getting up from his stomach, Jack watched from his shelter as Winn's brisk walk led her closer to Port Royal with every barefooted step. _Fool woman,_ he thought._ I thought you had more sense, Winnie. I'm disappointed to find you out here all by yourself. What if I had been dangerous?_ Sighing, Jack decided that he had better follow at a discreet distance to ensure that Winn made it back to her lodgings safely. That, and it would be hard to abduct her if he couldn't later find her.

Winn looked back only once, feeling as if she were being watched, but that was ridiculous, she told herself. The beach was deserted, she was alone but for her dog, and besides, who was there to be following her?

* * *

Jack followed Winn all the way back to the Swann's, albeit from a block or so behind her. The trip had been somewhat uneventful – the few people they had come across being either to drunk or to pretentious to stop or even look at Winn. Jack had almost stopped following her once he realized where she must be going, but the thought of what _might_ happen to a woman alone on the streets in strange garb long after dark kept him going. _After all, it'll be somewhat difficult to get decent revenge if the woman is dead._ He refused to admit to any other motivation than that. 

Upon reaching the gates that enclosed the Swann residence, Winn stopped and set Pigeon down. The feeling of being followed had never gone away during her trip. She'd had to consciously stop herself from looking behind her every few minutes. She refused to look like a victim, even if it was all in her imagination. But now, having reached her temporary home, Winn stopped to look out at the view available from the road.

It wasn't reassuring. The road was tightly hemmed by lush greenery. She tried to appear as if she was relaxed and enjoying the view, but she was actually searching for mysterious figures out of the corners of her eyes. For a moment she thought she had seen something, but when she turned her head to look, all she saw was a palm frond bobbing as if a bird had suddenly taken flight.

With a sigh and a shiver Winn collected her pet and headed indoors.

_ Why does it feel as if something is hanging over my head? _ Winn peeked into the parlor, saw Elizabeth sleeping on the sofa, and sighed. She was unused to people waiting up for her, though she would admit that she usually had better sense than to walk about in the middle of the night. Gently she roused Elizabeth and picked up the guttering candle to light their way up the stairs.

"Where were you?" Elizabeth murmured sleepily as Winn helped her into bed.

"Lost in my thoughts," Winn whispered back. "Go to sleep."

"Stay with me tonight. I'm too excited to sleep."

"Mmm-hmm…" Winn knew that kind of excitement, but she didn't truly think that it was any match for Elizabeth's weariness. Still, the sensation of being watched hadn't quite left her, and this might be her last chance to spend some quiet time with a friend whose experiences would soon leave Winn behind. "Let me go change. I'll be right back."

Back in her room, Winn hurriedly undressed, not taking any more note of the open curtains than to notice the pretty view that was reveal. The moon was just setting into the bay, and part of her wanted to sit down and sketch her unease out, but she'd already committed herself to staying with Elizabeth.

Jack had waited patiently outside the walls to the Governor's residence, hoping that Winn didn't have a room in the back. His luck was running in the same beneficial vein. Candlelight soon lit an open window. The knowledge of which room was hers would come in handy later if he couldn't catch her alone again. But not only did he gain the knowledge he sought, but he was treated to the sight of the woman stripping down to her undergarments. _If Winnie thinks that no one can tell what she's wearing, or rather, what she's not, then she's sadly mistaken._ While Jack enjoyed the view, he had to wonder once again if the girl had as much sense as he had accredited to her. Most ladies wouldn't be caught dead in their encumbering nightgowns and voluminous robes – this one stood in plain sight wearing next to nothing.

Shaking his head, Jack settled in to wait until the lights had gone off in Winn's room. Once they had, and Winn was presumably out of trouble and safely in bed, Jack headed down to the waterfront for a bit of entertainment.

* * *

"You know…" Will spun around, his hand instinctively falling to the hilt of his sword even as his mind matched a name with the voice that came out of the darkness of his smithy. "…it'd be worth the price of oil to leave a lamp burning. Gets a tad bit dark in here at night, doesn't it?" 

"Jack Sparrow." Will let go of his sword and reached for a flint instead.

"Captain, lad. _Captain_ Jack Sparrow." The unsteady flare of light from Will's lantern illuminated a white and gold smirk.

"What are you doing here, Jack?"

"Needed a cheap place to bunk away from prying eyes."

"I thought you had a ship." Will frowned and waved a hand to dismiss the talk that would surely come after a comment like that. "What are you doing here?"

"Now, see, I'd think a more interestin' question would be _how_ I got here." Jack stepped out from the shadows. If anyone had followed Will or had been listening in, they would have interrupted by now. In these sparsely defended costal towns, the word "pirate" was usually enough to bring the home-grown militia running.

"Why would I ask that? The moment I do you'll simply reply, 'I'm Captain Jack Sparrow,' and won't say another word on the matter."

Jack's eyes became black slits in his face as he narrowed his gaze. Pointing with both index fingers, he said, "You're learning."

Will rolled his eyes. "And you're as bad as Winn when it comes to answering questions. Yes, I know all about it," Will said in response to Jack's surprise. "Though the story was told unwillingly and I have a feeling that she left quite a bit out."

"So she did get here safely. I'd wondered." Well, he hadn't so much wondered as had disturbing dreams. And a man had no real control over what he dreamed, now did he?

"She really jumped off a ship and chose to swim to another in order to get away from you?"

"You sound amazed. I suppose you thought those lovely ladies in Tortuga were greeting me with love taps." Jack was well aware that he was just as adept at alienating the fairer sex as he was at charming them. Unfortunately, the latter tended to fall fast on the heels of the former. There was clearly something wrong with his technique, though he hadn't puzzled out what it was as of yet.

Not that it mattered. There were too many beautiful women in the world for him to give all his attention to one for any length of time. His pursuit of Winn had already gone on longer than usual.

"You still haven't mentioned what you're doing here." Will had gone along with Jack's attempt at misdirection in his own effort to learn more about what had happened between Winn and the pirate. With no details forthcoming, he returned to his original question and prepared to hear as tall a tale as Jack could make up on the spot.

"I wanted to return some of her things to her." Jack nudged the sack on the floor with the toe of his boot.

"You wanted to return some things to…her?"

"The her that was previously under discussion."

"You want to return some of Winn's belongings," Will said flatly. The statement plainly expressed doubt that Jack could ever be motivated by anything so simple.

Jack placed one rag-wrapped hand over his chest. "Out of the kindness of my shrunken black heart."

"Why don't you pull my other leg?" Will drawled as he took a seat on the forge's ledge. "You're a pirate."

"Your point?"

"What's in it for you?"

Jack looked at Will shrewdly. "Nothin' you'd be interested in, I assure you. Or at least I assume so considering the noise I've heard about an impending engagement."

Will's eyes widened in alarm, but he shrugged it off. If Jack were foolish enough to be caught at whatever it was he was planning, then either Elizabeth or Winn would have his head. Just the thought of that was enough to spur him to give Jack a friendly warning. "The females of the species are feeling particularly fierce these days, Jack. I wouldn't recommend making the kind of ruckus that might make them change their plans."

"Come now, Will, I'm just one man." Jack spread his hands and pasted an innocent look on his face. "Just how much damage do you think I could do?"

* * *

The day of the ceremony dawned bright and early, as dawns are apt to do. For Winn, who'd been up so late the night before, it was torture when Elizabeth rolled out of bed and forced her to do the same. A retreat to her room had seemed in order, but there had been a maid lying in wait to bully her into a bath and a simple change of clothing. She'd fled her room for the breakfast room as soon as she was able. Now her eyes burned from a lack of sleep, seeing as how she had gotten perhaps four hours of it at the most and those four hours had been anything but restful. Indeed, rest_less_ would be a better way to describe them. Not only had she had Elizabeth murmuring incoherently next to her but her own dreams had kept her unsettled. All she could recall now was that she'd been trying to find someone, but she didn't know who, and they always seemed out reach. It had driven her crazy, not knowing who she was looking for, and she just knew that if she could only catch a glimpse of them, everything would be solved. Instead her search had brought her in contact with her own belongings, every day objects that had held strange, _weighty_ significances that she'd known were there but that she couldn't comprehend. 

To her not so great surprise, none of those feelings disappeared with the coming of the sun. Pouring herself a cup of coffee – to which she added a great quantity of cream and sugar – Winn sat down at the breakfast table, her head in her hands. Giving a great sigh, she took a sip of her drink, and made a face.

"I thought you didn't like coffee." Elizabeth had come into the room unnoticed. She seated herself across the table from Winn.

"I don't. I don't like coffee, I don't like how this morning started out, and I don't like any of the cranky old goats that are going to be joining us any moment, either. I thought I might as well get used to things I don't like." Winn grimaced as she took another drink.

"You're in a mood," Elizabeth observed, her voice a bit tight.

Winn looked up, one hand rubbing eyes that were still reluctant to focus on anything but the inside of her eyelids. "And you're looking pale," she replied once she'd taken a moment to gauge Elizabeth's state of mind. "I was sure you'd be running off a store of nervous energy today. You were last night. I thought I was aboard ship with all the tossing and turning that was going on."

"You could have gotten up and left."

"I could have elbowed you," Winn said flatly. "What are you worried about? No, let me rephrase that. What are you most worried about right this instant?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth, then closed it, then worriedly asked, "Winn, the sky, do you think…" She trailed off.

Seeing that her friend had a good start on working herself into a nervous breakdown before the seven o'clock ceremony, Winn did her best to allay any fears. "Light cloud cover and wind from the east," she mused, eyes closing halfway as she made calculations …or at least pretended to. She didn't need a complex set of readings to puzzle out a pattern that had marked the last several days. "Relax. We might get a little drizzle yet this morning if the clouds didn't empty overnight. The clouds will start to burn off by ten; they'll be gone by noon. The sun will have all the dew and drizzle dried within a couple of hours in all but the most heavily shaded areas and everyone at the ceremony and following 'entertainment' will have more propriety than to seek _those_ out. And you and Will shall be the center of all eyes, so no worry there either." Winn reached across the table to give Elizabeth's hand a gentle squeeze. "Just worry about your part. You can't argue Mother Nature into changing her mind if she decides to make today wet anyway."

"Thank you." The younger woman sighed, then narrowed her gaze as she looked at her friend. "You look awful. Didn't you sleep well?" Now that one concern had been laid aside, Elizabeth started to worry for her friend.

"About as well as you, I wager."

"You found your dreams interrupted by men demanding the most intriguing things from you?" Even weariness couldn't totally suppress Elizabeth's wicked sense of humor.

"Men?" Winn quizzed back, in no mood to answer _that_ question. "You're going to break Will's heart with talk like that."

"I believe the both of us were under discussion so using the plural was completely appropriate."

"I believe you're being nosy."

"I saw that picture of Jack's eyes, Winn. No one but you would dare put it there."

Winn froze, then carefully set her cup of coffee down. It was unreasonable for her temper to flare up at just the sound of that man's name. She supposed she had to face up to the fact that it wasn't the name but how Elizabeth seemed to be harboring suspicions that she couldn't entirely deny that got her goat. And as that was the case, Winn was very careful to control herself and her voice. "Just because you're a snoop doesn't mean I have to satisfy your curiosity."

Elizabeth remembered that tone. When she was younger it'd meant that Winn was about one tightly strained nerve away from forcing her nose into a corner. And though she was now a grown woman, Elizabeth wasn't entirely sure that Winn wouldn't still make an attempt to discipline her. "You're no fun."

"And you're complaining just to hear yourself talk." The reprimand came out harsher than she'd meant it to be. Rubbing her hands over her face, Winn murmured, "I'm sorry. I truly didn't sleep well last night."

"Well, this is your last chance to catch a nap before it's time to get ready."

"What makes you think I'm not ready now?"

"You're not wearing that." Elizabeth pulled Winn up from her chair.

"Just you wait, Elizabeth Swann. I'll pay you back for this some day."

"You'd have to get married first, and you've already sworn that you're never going to do so. Or have you changed your mind?"

Muttering things about people with long memories, Winn allowed herself to be led to her room.

* * *

Hours later, Winn managed to escape. Hemmed in by multiple petticoats and a corset that was far tighter than she preferred, she attempted to run downstairs. The laughter of the two maids who had been assigned to help her prepare for the ceremony followed her. 

Her regalia proved to be all she feared when, having made her way successfully down almost two flights of stairs in her heeled slippers, Winn tripped on the last one. Before she could fall flat on her face, she was caught. She looked up at her rescuer to find Will there. "Playing truant are we?" His face showed his uncomfortable awareness that her reckless haste had been witnessed by Governor Swann and most of the other houseguests.

"Hardly," she whispered in response to his own soft tones. Peeking around his shoulders to spy the reason for his caution, she saw their audience. "Drat. Think they'll buy a swoon?"

"Unlikely. Think you can stand?"

"Well since you're not going to catch me a second time." Winn got her feet under her and said in a patently cheerful voice, "Just the man I was looking for. Elizabeth's certain she managed to lose an earring in the music room. Come help me search for it…" and she dragged the considerably taller man out of the room and into a bit of privacy.

"I didn't think I was ever going to get away. How's my hair?" Winn reached up to gingerly pat at the hair that was fixed in a complicated knot on the top of her head. A few stray ringlets framed her face, though they'd first suffered from a strict application of a hot iron and starch before settling into fashionable compliance. After that tumble she'd taken, Winn was sure the entire confection was melting around her shoulders. And if she had to go back up there… "There was talk of powdering my hair, Will, and of applying face paints."

"I'd never expect such a thing out of you. I do have some sense."

"Hmph."

Will grinned despite the message he bore for her, unable to help himself from asking, "Just out of curiosity, but what's that around your eyes?"

Over the strenuous and thunderous objections of the woman whose face they were in, a touch of kohl had been applied to her eyes and it made them seem as deep and mysterious as her glasses had made them seem dull. Winn had ungracefully conceded the point when she'd seen what the cosmetics had done for her in conjunction with her dress. Coppery in color, it emphasized the green in her eyes, and the rich silk it was made of shimmered inconspicuously under the lights. Froths of blond lace spilled from bodice and cuffs. Black pearl earbobs could be seen at her lobes, and a diminutive charm of citrines and peridot hung on a delicate gold chain around her neck.

"It's in case I have to escape and commandeer the first ship I come across. Wouldn't want to be blinded by the light reflecting from my own clothes, would I?"

The humor slowly left Will's face as he stared down at her. Jack was something like a friend, but Will didn't trust him or the professed innocence of his intentions. Winn deserved the warning, even if she thought she could take care of herself. Jack had seemed a man determined the night before. His reluctance to say exactly what he was determined to do only made Will warier.

"Winn."

"It can't be as bad as all that," she tried to joke. She'd seen him become so very serious and today wasn't a day for serious thoughts.

"It's about Jack. He's –"

Winn rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's nothing you can say about that man that Elizabeth hasn't already said. I admire your new strength of purpose Will, but she's still the mouthier one."

"That's not it. I know how you feel about him. I understand that you don't trust him, and I understand the reasons behind that. I­ –"

"You do?"

"Would you stop interrupting?" Will was certain Winn's impatience was her most frustrating quality. "He's ­–"

"Governor Swann." Winn stepped back from Will. She was curious about what Will had been about to say, but she had enough sense to know that she ought to curtsey. It was even more important to show respect considering her tumble and hasty exit earlier.

As she rose to her full, unimpressive height, she saw Marcus and Ry come into the room behind the governor. The elder man had his usual look of puzzled concern on his face, but her brothers appeared relaxed.

"You were looking for me, Governor?"

"Elizabeth is asking for you."

"And our wives want to see you," Marcus added, "considering this might be the last time they see you so finely dressed."

Winn repressed the urge to stick out her tongue. "I'm on my way."

* * *

The party was in full tilt. Winn was stealing a few quiet moments to herself. Her cheeks hurt from hours of smiling at people she didn't know, her arms were tired from the stately dances she'd been pressed into, and her feet were begging her for a respite from her delicate, heeled slippers. Yet every now and then she would catch sight of Elizabeth's blazing smile or the way Will only had eyes for his now official fiancée, and she would admit that perhaps all this fuss was worthwhile. 

Not that she was looking forward to experiencing it all again in a year's time when it was time for the pair to wed.

"Miss Morgan."

Winn turned to face whoever had decided to intrude on her privacy. "Commodore Norrington." She dipped into a curtsey, showing proper respect for her brother's commanding officer.

The commodore bowed in return, then held out his hand. "Perhaps you would care to join me in a turn around the gardens, Miss Morgan."

"It's kind of you to remember me," Winn replied, allowing manners to support her as she extended her hand. What she really wanted was to be left alone for a few more moments before rejoining the throng, but Elizabeth, Cat, and likely even Grace – all of whom had somehow managed to part the sea of humanity between they and she – would likely frown at her if she turned down the commodore's offer.

_Put those matchmaking glints away,_ she warned them through a stern glare. Elizabeth merely twiddled her fingers before turning away to speak to another guest.

"…never forget someone who played chess to well," Norrington was saying.

"You flatter me, sir." Winn thought about the long hours she'd spent facing this man across a chessboard during the interminable crossing from England. "The only thing I recall excelling at was taking my losses gracefully. 'Twas you who had a flare for concealing traps for unwitting pieces. A talent, by all accounts, that has served you well." Gravel crunched under their feet as they strolled along the garden paths. They were hardly alone; others seeking a rest from the dancing and eating and politicking that was taking place inside the house nodded to the mismatched pair as they passed. "Is it true that the Lords of the Admiralty have bestowed yet another commendation on you for your capture of Captain Montrose and the _Sow's Ear_?"

"You are remarkably well informed," Norrington drawled, neatly avoiding the question.

Winn glanced at him, unused to men who didn't take credit for their achievements. The men in her family didn't worry about niceties like humbleness. The commodore's reticence was a welcome change, so she allowed him to keep it.

"Grandfather retains his connections in England." Out of the corner of her eye Winn thought she saw someone tacking a parallel course to theirs. When she glanced at the thick greenery bordering the estate's gardens, all she saw were dancing shadows cast by the torches placed to light the walkways. _Get your imagination under control, Winifred._ "I maintain my own contacts, of course."

"Miss Swann wrote you of it then."

"She does hate to keep a perfectly good secret when it could be shared." Once again Winn's gaze slide over and up. Norrington looked as impassive as he ever did. "Permission to speak freely."

"You're hardly one of my officers."

"I'm hardly ever tactful." When he neither granted nor denied her the permission she'd sought, Winn forged ahead. "Frankly, I'm surprised to find you here, Commodore. Considering the nature of the celebrations, I would have thought you'd have begged off."

"One's social duty rarely has anything to do with one's personal preferences."

"I had noticed that." They walked in silence a little further before Winn grew uncomfortable. She could have sworn that she felt herself being watched, but there was no one in sight except an elderly couple making their painfully slow way back to the house.

To cover her disquiet, Winn reverted back to their former conversation. "I also heard that the commendation from the Admiralty is somewhat grudging because you can't turn a _Sow's Ear_ into a _Black Pearl_ with any amount of trying. Like a fisherman who wants to toss back the fingerlings in his catch but can't without letting his family starve, the Admirals are…disgruntled."

Norrington stopped her, facing her for the first time since he'd asked for her company. The look on his face told her all she needed to know.

"Marcus told you, didn't he?" Winn could feel her cheeks heating. "After I specifically asked him to keep it to himself, he told you everything, like a penitent to a priest."

Norrington's face hardened with a determination that was familiar to her. It was a look she'd seen often enough on others in her family. "After your experience with the man, I wouldn't think you'd be inclined to protect him. But then again, Sparrow does have a way of…making friends."

_Like Elizabeth._ Winn gave an exaggerated sigh in place for the tongue-lashing she wanted to unleash. "I'm not Elizabeth, Commodore. It's my own pride I'm interested in protecting, not Sparrow's freedom." _Though it'd be shame to rob him of something that brings him so much pleasure. _

_ He chooses to engage in piracy, _her more practical self chided._ His freedom is the collateral he puts up against his brigandry_

Frustrated with herself, Winn shoved a hand into her hair only to freeze as she encountered a hairpin. _Blessed mother Mary and the saints!_

"I'm sorry I can't be of any help, Commodore, but I escaped Sparrow the moment I could didn't bother trying to suss out his latest destination."

Man and woman stood apart, facing each other for several long minutes before the commodore bowed rather abruptly. "My mistake, Miss Morgan. With my apologies, I'll take my leave of you."

Winn barely kept her jaw from dropping as Norrington left her alone on the path. Why were so many gentlemen – she snorted – seeking her out for naught more than what they could gain from her? First Sparrow, and then the man hunting Sparrow.

"I'm not some kind of magical Sparrow-centric compass," she grumbled under her breath as she lifted her skirts just far enough to allow her to kick out at a particularly offensive stone. "Bloody men."

"Miss?"

Winn rolled her eyes at the hesitant voice. Was a bit of divine help at the moment really to much to ask for? It was one thing for a lady to be caught talking to herself, another entirely to be caught cursing. "Yes? What is it?"

"Your pet, Miss. You said you wanted –"

"Thank you." Winn turned and plucked her pet out of the maid's grasp. "I apologize for snapping at you, Annie. It's been a long day." She laughed wearily as she realized she'd made yet another faux pas. "And a longer day for you, of course. Thank you for keeping an eye on Pige. Don't worry about staying up to help Elizabeth or I undress. I'll see to the lady and myself. Use the time to steal a few moments with your stable lad."

Beaming, the maid dipped an irreverent curtsey. "I understand, Miss. Thank you, Miss. And if I might be so bold, I wouldn't linger too long with your pet. Your brothers were asking after you not so long ago."

_One of the wives __must have mentioned who I was strolling with. I wonder how well I can hide in all this fine plumage._ "The warning is appreciated, Annie." Good lord, had she really volunteered to see Elizabeth to bed? She _must_ be tired to have forgotten the mischievous glint in her friend's eye that had promised a later inquisition. Briefly, Winn considered calling the maid back, but an armful of wriggling puppy and the thought that the inquisition would come even if it were put off for the night kept her mouth shut.

Safely alone once again, Winn set Pige down and murmured, "Alright, me beauty, let's take care of your business before going to face off against overly protective brothers." Strolling after the exploring puppy, she used the time to get herself back under control. _I'm going to have to send the Commodore a written apology tomorrow. I really could have been more understanding, especially in light of how I'd just pointed out that all those admirals are upset with him for failing to capture Sparrow after all this time._ Still, Norrington didn't seem like a man frustrated by constant failure. Unless she missed her guess, he'd been enjoying a true challenge until the unofficial reprimand had been handed down.

Sudden barking distracted Winn from her thoughts. "Pige? Pige! Don't you… Blast." Too late. The puppy had dived into the undergrowth at the very rear of the estate. There was no fence back there to keep the animal penned.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered as she gathered her skirts as close to her body as she could. If she were a less cautious woman, she'd drop her voluminous petticoats… _Actually, that's a pretty good idea._ But not in the middle of the path. Removing a conveniently placed torch from its stand, Winn slithered into the dense mass of vegetation until she couldn't see the light from any of the other torches. She wedged her light into the crook of a forked branch and then worked to divest herself of her more troublesome garments. _I'm a scandal in the making. _The thought made her grin.

The sharp crack of a twig breaking made Winn freeze. "Pige?" Pige replied with her silly little yips that normally brought a silly little smile to her face…but this time they were coming from the opposite direction of the noise that'd disturbed her.

Winn spun around, fire-blind, her mouth opened to scream…


	12. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** oh good lord, that took forever to write. But here it is, and before finals week too. I'm so proud of myself.

Seventeen days before PotC2 is out on DVD.

Author replies being sent out shortly.

* * *

A hard, calloused hand clamped over her mouth before she could do more than draw a deep breath. A body larger than her own forced her back into a tree. Winn reflexively stomped down on her attacker's foot, but he was wearing boots. With her hands caught in a grip she couldn't break and her skirts already rucked up around her knees, she…

…she smelled cinnamon and a hint of sea salt. She knew that scent.

"…there, there lass. Ole' Jack –"

Calm enough to hear his uselessly soothing words, Winn made use of her raised skirts and snapped her knee up, praying to hit something soft and delicate.

The torch behind Jack illuminated enough of Winn's face that he saw the moment she stopped panicking. A vicious light entered her eyes, giving him just enough warning to twist out of the way of her attack. 'Twas a good thing he did; Winn wasn't pussyfooting around. Her knee slammed into his hip with enough force to sway him. The soft sound of discomfort she made against his palm was no consolation for the pain shooting down his thigh.

"I'm going to have to have a word with these brothers of yours, Winnie. They obviously neglected to teach you how to pull your punches," Jack muttered as he wondered exactly what he was supposed to do now. He hadn't exactly _planned_ to announce his presence in this manner. Neither a panicked nor a furious Winn would do him any good. He'd _planned_ to make an entrance that would have had her nicely irritated. Yes, watching her walk along with his good friend Commodore Norrington had had him revising his plans, and not in a "tread-on-the-side-of-caution" kind of way. And perhaps he'd thought of a few things to say when she'd started talking about her "escape." But when she'd started pulling up her skirts, he'd been absolutely determined to stand by like the scoundrel he was and enjoy the performance.

Yet here he was, across the clearing with a bundle of seething Winnie in his arms and an irrational desire to let go of her so he could get her skirts back down where they belonged. Which was clearly a ludicrous thought. Letting go of her in any manner would only get him in hotter water. Unless…

"Promise not to scream?" he asked hopefully.

Winn rolled her eyes. Just what kind of ninny did he think she was? A scream right now would bring all sorts of wonderfully strong –

_What do you think Sparrow is?_

– wonderfully armed –

_His arm__s **are** rather nice. _

– men –

_He certainly is a man. _

_ – _running. Her brothers, the Commodore, and Will among them. Of _course_ she would scream.

Or at least, she would if she didn't want Sparrow's upcommance to be perfectly, wonderfully, completely personal.

_Personal is good._

After slamming the door on the internal voice that sounded annoying like an infatuated schoolgirl, she nodded and prepared to act the moment Sparrow released her.

Jack felt her tense even further and figured he'd best stay close to her in case she did something foolish. He was probably being foolish himself by trusting her not to scream though he knew it wouldn't be for help. Still, it was with reluctance that he pulled his hands away from her.

Winn burst into action, her hand striking out to grab the dagger hanging from Sparrow's belt. She anticipated the way he'd dodge what he'd see as a further attack and corrected for it. A burst of triumph swept through her as her hand closed around the hilt of the weapon…then Sparrow spun her around, his tight grip on her wrist keeping her arm extended and the blade useless.

"Well, here we are," Jack drawled as he slipped foot between her ankles for good measure.

"Again," Winn added dryly.

"Stalemated once more."

"This was always the inherent problem in fighting with my brothers." Winn tested the strength that was keeping her arm held out from her body. Since neither of them had any real leverage, she could move her arm a few inches in any direction she chose, but that was hardly enough to do her any good. She pretended to sigh while her mind raced to provide her with a way out of this mess. "The moment they got their hands on me, I was done for. It's the reason I learned to be quick on my feet."

"How odd. I haven't seen you run from a fight yet." _From other things, but not fights._

"Let me go and I'll correct that oversight."

"Right after you've gutted me with my own blade. I think not." Jack's head dipped as he caught a trace of whatever scent she was wearing. The woman certainly did clean up well.

"It's not much of a blade," Winn said witheringly. What else could she say when he was doing that…that _thing_ again? The hand at her waist was starting to stroke her hip in a way that made her want to squirm free of his hold. She itched to slap his hand away – her left hand was free – but couldn't stand how ineffectual it'd be. The dratted man would probably only laugh at her efforts.

"I'm wounded."

"Not yet you're not." Lilting strains of music underscored their isolation. The barely audible sound of leaves falling was slowly hidden by the soft snufflings of a curious puppy. _Oh, so now she decides to stick by me._ "Some guard dog you are," Winn muttered at the pup who was busily investigating Jack's boots. "I'd be careful if I were you, Captain. Pigeon has a taste for boot leather."

"Oh, I can see she's a fearsome beast. She must have learned well from her mistress."

"I've just about had enough of this!" Winn snapped.

"So have I," Jack murmured into her hair.

She missed the implication. "The moment I get free I'm going to –" Winn didn't get to finish her threat before Jack rolled his eyes and gave into the pirate roaring in the back of his mind.

For one breathless moment, Winn found the world swirling around her. Then her lungs contracted painfully and the spinning sensation settled into sickening, lurching motion. A shrill sound assaulted her ears as she fought to breathe; before she could catch herself, she moaned in protest and was rewarded by a hearty slap to the back of her thigh.

"Hush now, luv. No need for fuss when your mutt is raising such alarm. Perhaps there's hope for her after all."

Indignant because of the hand that had quickly turned to an unfamiliar caress and confused because of the strange way the pirate's voice sounded in her ears, Winn opened eyes she'd instinctively closed when Jack had first spun her around. The world was very, very black. When she jerked her head back in surprise, she caught sight of silver fur and black boots above her head.

_Above?_

Jack knew the small advantage surprise had given him had ended when the small body over his shoulder stiffened. He lengthened his stride, though it was still hard going carrying an uncooperative woman through thick vegetation.

"Sparrow! What do you think you're doing?" The hands that braced themselves on the small of his back didn't garner his attention in the way she'd likely wanted. They were small hands, but strong, and the moment they started to dig into muscle all he could think about was what they would feel like against his skin. He'd noticed before that she kept her nails short, but surely they would bite into him just as sweetly as her tongue did when she chose to wield it –

"Answer me, Jack Sparrow!"

"Retrieving a bit of treasure that I misplaced. Now, hush." Jack gave her a little bounce in hopes of knocking her breathless once more, but he should have known that Winn would be ready for anything. She used the momentum to throw herself upright. Her precarious perch didn't allow her to control the movement at all and Winn felt herself tipping backwards. Jack tried to steady her, but his feet tangled in roots and with his hands trapped by her skirts, he couldn't drop her soon enough to keep them both from overbalancing. Down they went, Winn with one arm shielding her head and the other wrapped around the only solid thing in her world – Jack.

Jack felt that wild clutch and grinned as he twisted to take the brunt of the fall. For a brief moment he contemplated letting her take it for no other reason than that she deserved no less for her little maneuver and out of consideration for where his head would fall when they landed. However he knew he'd made the right choice when he felt Winn's angry struggles begin almost before they hit the ground. One of her wild swings connected with his eye. When the spot went numb he retaliated by purposely sporting that lazy grin he knew infuriated her as he tightened his arms around her hips and waist. A black eye in the – near – future was small price to pay. _Aye, the view from this position is hardly poor –_

Cursing like the sailors she'd been raised around, Winn shook out her aching hand. The infuriating pirate hadn't even reacted to the blow, a fact which only fed her temper. Her breath her own and her temper flaring nearly out of control, Winn did the one thing guaranteed to bring a quick end to this: she screamed.

He couldn't help how the dog immediately howled in unison with her mistress, but Jack acted to cut off the voice of the woman in his arms. Quickly rolling so that Winn was pinned beneath him, Jack hauled himself up over her body and pressed his mouth to hers.

As kisses went, it had no finesse. But in Jack's eyes it was exactly what he'd expected from Winn. She was rigidly still, her palms seemingly frozen to his shoulders as if she were trying to decide whether she wanted to clobber him or embrace him. He could taste her surprise and counted himself lucky that he hadn't tried to deepen the kiss when her mouth snapped shut. But her lips were warm and soft and her obvious inexperience pleased him. He could practically hear the cogs in her head turning as she tried to decide how she should proceed.

When it was clear that he was going to remain undamaged for the liberties he'd taken, Jack pulled away slightly. "What's the matter, Winnie?" he asked against her lips.

His words shook Winn out of her stupor. She cursed him soundly as she tried to shove him away. When he refused to budge, she grabbed at his hair and yanked. The grunt the pirate gave filled her with grim satisfaction, but he still didn't move from over her.

"Calm yourself, Winnie." Jack tried to force her hands out of his hair but she was tenacious. Her struggles were becoming more and more frantic until, acting on a suspicion, Jack brushed his fingers along her face and found wetness. "Don't cry, luv," he sighed.

"Don't cry?" Winn heard the shrillness and the tremble in her own voice and despised it but couldn't think of a reason to bother trying to hide it now…which only made her despise him. "Why couldn't you have just left me alone, Jack Sparrow? I've told you that trying to convince me that you find me attractive would get you nowhere. You're wasting your breath if you think that …that _this_ will intimidate me. I don't know why you're still here, and I don't particularly care. Let me _up_!"

"No." Jack counted his blessings that the dog had stopped licking their faces to gain their attention and had curled up close by to chew on fleas. It left him free to concentrate on the woman beneath him. "Why do you keep insisting that you're unattractive, Winnie?"

"Do you have to work at being cruel or is it a gift?" Winn snapped. "Haven't you had enough? You've bested me. Why can't you be satisfied with that and leave me be?"

_You didn't answer the question._ "Why can't you stop questioning that I find you desirable?" Jack closed his eyes and hissed when Winn drew in a sharp breath; he didn't know whether to bless or curse the man who'd invented the corset. Still, the audible reaction he had to her should have pulled some reaction out of her. But not even a shove did he receive from her.

Winn was oblivious to Jack's difficulties. The panic stirring inside her was just as painful as her disbelief at his words. _Why __does he have to tell such transparent lies?_ It was worse than being ignored, or overlooked, or turned down in that gentle way that men seemed to enjoy practicing on her. "Let me go, Jack."

Jack didn't understand her and he didn't like the quiet way she was asking to be released. Most women enjoyed hearing that they were attractive. What went on in that head of hers that made her afraid of those words? The obvious answer occurred to him almost immediately, but he dismissed it. Winn acted too often like a woman with no personal experience of matters between men and women. Besides, he'd felt Winn respond to him before, however reluctantly she did it.

"Jack –"

"Not quite yet. I think we need to settle once and for all whether or not men find you attractive, luv."

Again there was that shudder at his words, but she continued bravely on in a wooden voice while she stared at his throat. "I disagree, Captain Sparrow."

There were quite a few things he was willing to endure for her, as evidenced by their current circumstances, but her indifference wasn't one of them.

"No, this is a theory that definitely needs to be tested." Jack cupped her face to get her to meet his gaze. Her fingers tightened in his hair again, but she didn't start pulling. He wished there was a light nearby; in the dark her eyes were unreadable.

Winn didn't know why, but she found that her mouth was dry and her heart was in her throat. What had started as _ab_duction had turned into _se_duction, and while she wanted neither, she would have preferred to have been a prisoner again. That was something she knew how to deal with. This threat to her emotions was much harder to deal with and only became more so every time he touched her. "I've managed to live twenty-seven years without gathering any such evidence, and I could most likely live for another twent–"

Interrupting her mid-sentence, Jack murmured, "As much as I like you, there's times you'd be a lot more attractive if you could keep your mouth shut."

The rest happened fast. Winn tensed in preparation for another kiss, Pige started yipping and darting back and forth through the undergrowth in welcome, and then cool air flowed over her body. Her eyes snapped open at the sudden intrusion. Jack was standing above her, a stupid look on his face as he stared down into her own dazed one.

And to his either side…

"Ryan?" she rasped as she identified the angry men holding the pirate's arms. "Marcus."

"Winifred," Ry growled.

_He sounds angry. What right does he have to be angry? **I'm** the one who was being kissed!_ Winn heard her own thoughts and was infuriated with herself. _Kissed?_ She'd almost been _kidnapped._

All awkward elbows and knees, Winn struggled to her feet. "Don't you _take_ that tone with me, Ryan." She was glad for the anger that swept away the confusion, anticipation, and disappointment that had been fighting for control inside of her. Anger burned bright and steady, leaving all those other emotions in the shadows to be dealt with later.

"Don't get mad at me. What have _I_ done?"

"I thought you were the one who said not to offer assistance until she asked for it, mate," Jack muttered under his breath to the man at his side.

"Jack Sparrow!" Marcus said in surprise. He hadn't really taken notice of the man that Winn's short-lived scream and Pige's incessant yaps had led them to. However, now that he had… "Well, this is certainly going to save us time."

Winn's eyes went cold. "You better not be referring to that merciless pummeling I mentioned earlier." Her words were slow and deliberate.

"I think the term you used was 'relentless,' actually," Ry reminded her.

"Well that's hardly kind," Jack commented.

"_You_ be quiet," Winn snapped, pointing her finger at Sparrow. "And _you_ two," she snarled at her older brothers. "_Do_ something with him, if you please."

"And what are we supposed to 'do' with him?" Ry asked. _Drat Sparrow for getting __Freddy in such a pet._ She wasn't going to be at all receptive to hearing how things were going to have to be.

"You could wrap him in chains and dump him into the sea," she suggested in a too sweet voice, purely for Jack's benefit.

"Woman, would you make up your mind? First you don't want us to pummel him – and we have _very_ good reason to considering what we interrupted –"

"He's got us there, lass." All three of his companions turned to look at him with something resembling disbelief. Jack shrugged; he was rather at ease, circumstances being what they were. If no punches had been thrown by now, they probably weren't going to be. "I'd say, considering the state we were in, that –"

"We?" Winn demanded. She was so mad she was certain that the others could see smoke escaping from her ears. _"Us?" _

Ry shook his head, his train of thought momentarily lost. No matter how old a man's sister was, he didn't want to consider her involved in kisses of any kind. "Anyway… That's not my point.

"Then what _is_ your point?" Winn's arms crossed over her chest. The hem of her gown started to sway as her toe tapped with impatience. The curious pup watching them all from its position at her feet was rather incongruous and should have been disarming. Yet her brother hesitated.

"Marcus, share what was in the letter you received from Grandfather today?"

Marcus opened his mouth, then shut it in the face of Winn's glare. "You're the oldest, you do it," Marcus whispered to his brother.

"Yes, but if you die, the Navy will look after your family." Ry whispered back.

Jack just snorted. Winnie certainly had her family fooled if they thought she was as tough as she pretended to be. Hadn't they learned to see that Winnie's anger was just a sail? Simply one filled by emotions she didn't want to deal with instead of wind.

"Spit it out, would you?" Winn was struggling not to raise her voice. The last thing she needed was an audience to witness all this. Well, a larger audience. "Spit it out or let him go so we can return the house. I've been gone long enough to raise suspicions as it is."

Ry debated his options, then left Marcus in charge of Sparrow so that he could approach Winn. "Freddy, about that." He gingerly set his hands on her shoulders and instinctively tightened his grip when he felt the way she was trembling. "It appears as if Sparrow –"

"Captain," Jack muttered even though he knew he'd be ignored.

"– as if Sparrow caught Grandfather's attention with his raid on the _Kestrel_. The crew of the _Heron_ bore a letter directing usto bring Sparrow to him as soon as could be managed. And we're not the only ones. All of his captains either have or will soon receive the same orders.. Apparently Grandfather wants answers for why one of his ships came into port without any sails…or, more importantly, any granddaughters. Not to mention he's curious over the fate of his birds."

"Answers," Winn said flatly. "_Birds_." Her nostrils flared briefly as she struggled to control her voice. "Is there a reason why Grandpapa can't get his _answers_ without bringing that…that _man_ to the island? Is his curiosity so insatiable?"

"Well, perhaps _answer__s_ isn't quite the right word for what he wants."

Winn thought about her grandfather. Well into his seventies now, he might look jovial and harmless. But that was so far from the truth it was scary. The old man was a hard-bitten pirate chaser whose conduct had led him dangerously close to being accused of piracy himself. He was capable of being merciless.

This was the man who desired Jack's…presence.

"Tell him no!"

"Freddy, no one tells Grandfather 'no.' You _know_ that."

"_I_ do."

"That's probably why he didn't write to you then." She was still looking mutinous. "Freddy, listen to me," Ry urged. "Marcus and I can't ignore this." He wasn't talking about the letter and Winn knew it. "_Grandfather_ can't ignore it. You know how much his pride and reputation mean to him."

"Pride is a stupid excuse for whatever he's planning."

"And _your_ pride?" Good lord, his sister could be dense when she didn't like the truth. "You know what horrible gossips sailors are. The entire _island_ knows that you were kidnapped by Jack Sparrow and not everyone is disposed to be kind. If this could have been hushed up, I'd be the first to argue your points with Grandfather. But it's your reputation is on the line. You can't expect any of us to sit by when it can be repaired."

"Do you think I care what people who don't know me say? This isn't necessary, Ry."

"The decision's been made, Winn. No one disobeys the Captain. I'm sorry."

The pressure building in her chest made her speak before she could consider her words. "You hurt him and I'll come after you next." Winn was not well pleased with the conversation she'd just had with her brother and she was even less pleased when he studied her as if he actually thought she would truly attack _them_ in Sparrow's defense. She hadn't meant it. How could she when she didn't even know why she'd said it? _I **didn't** mean it. I don't **think**__I meant it. __ How could **they** think I meant it? _

"Stop waiting for my permission to leave," she whispered, too ashamed to meet her brother's eyes. "I'm not going to condone this."

"I know." Ry wanted nothing more than to comfort Winn as he might one of his own children, but she was so…isolated…these days that he didn't feel comfortable making any overtures. "Do I need to send Cat in to check on you?"

Winn shuddered, unable to think of anything worse than trying to be polite right now. She would be hard pressed to say if it was with anger, exhaustion, or the adrenaline that was still rushing through her, making her voice sharper than it needed to be. She wasn't sure _what_ she was feeling, but whatever it was, it wasn't _polite_. "No."

Her voice was high and strident. Ry hesitated a moment before slowly nodding. "Alright. We're going to have to leave tomorrow morning. Some of my crew will be here to fetch your things at six."

"Fine."

There was nothing more to say. Winn watched as Ry went back to Sparrow. She was savagely delighted to see that his left eye was already swelling and turning black. By tomorrow morning, he'd be hard pressed to see out of it. _Serves him right._ Well, it would have if her brothers hadn't interfered. Now it seemed like too much.

With hands that trembled she reached down to scoop up the pup that had set this fiasco into motion. Then, with her skirts bunched up in one hand, she scurried past the trio of men.

It was only sensible to go back to the house.

Her clothing and person were too mused for anyone to mistake what she'd been about.

Sometimes a retreat was the best tactic available.

It still felt an awful lot like running away.

* * *

Jack's ears rang with the sound of the door to the _Kingfisher's_ brig closing behind him.

"You'll understand if I need to keep you here until we put out to sea." Ryan Morgan studied the man who had managed to so upset his sister. Despite the black eye, he exuded an air common to the Caribbean; a laid back, laissez-faire attitude.

"Aye." Jack studied his surroundings. As brigs went, this one wasn't too bad. It even had a hammock in which to sleep. "I appreciate the free lodgings, mate."

Ry was in no mood for chitchat. "You're lucky you're sporting that black eye, Captain."

Jack studied the man. All joking aside, he _was_ dealing with another man, not a boy or a fool despite the other captain's youth. "And why is that?"

"Because if you weren't, you would be by now. Though I'm not absolutely sure I should leave it at that considering Winn felt it necessary to resort to violence at all."

Jack heard the silent message, the warning to leave this man's females alone. He understood the warning but disregarded it. "There's few situations that _don't_ merit violence as far as your sister seems to be concerned. I believe I have you to thank for the fact that she's well able to take care of herself."

"When she wants to."

Again there was that silent understanding that it was possible that the woman in question didn't _want_ to take care of herself. And if that was the case, Jack would be happy to oblige her. More than happy. He'd never pretend to anything different. "Have we met? You look somewhat familiar."

"Ryan Morgan. I've captained the _Kingfisher_ for nearly twelve years. It's possible that we've crossed paths before."

"Hmm…" Morgan. Ryan Morgan. _Winifred_ Morgan. _Bugger, bugger, bugger. The little hellcat deliberately hid that information!_ "Mind if ask for proof?"

Ry debated, then decided to give the man what he asked for. There was little the pirate could do about it now. After taking the cuff links from his sleeve, Ry bared his arm to his shoulder, revealing a tattoo of a bird of prey, claws extended, pouncing on its victim, a ship at sea. There was no mistaking the seal.

Jack studied the image then took a few steps away from the bars of the cell. "So I take it that this infamous grandfather of yours is a Morgan as well?"

"_The_ Morgan to hear him tell it," Ry agreed.

"Would you believe that I had no idea?"

"If you had, would it have stopped the raid?"

Jack grinned. Of course it wouldn't have. But it probably would have kept him from coming to Port Royal. "What can I say?"

Seeing that there was nothing left to be said, Ry took his leave. He did have a wife and a brother to answer to for all this. Unsure of what he was going to tell them, knowing that there was no way he could safely ask his sister for the tale surrounding this night, Ryan went home.

Jack listened to the man leave, congratulating himself on keeping his mouth shut. It'd been on the tip of his tongue to ask where Winnie's tattoo was. Despite the times and few states of undress in which Jack had caught Winn, he had never seen it. _"Pirates, like dogs, can smell fear. Although I don't entirely believe Grandfather when it comes to that."_

* * *

For the second night in a row, Winn got little rest. As much as she wished she could blame her sleeplessness the excitement of the past day, the thought of leaving in the morning, possibly the moon being in her eyes, or even Pige making whimpering sounds in her sleep, Winn was trying to be honest with herself. The reason she couldn't sleep was that she could still feel on her lips the pressure of her first kiss.

Her mind tossed like a ship on storm swells. Excitement filled her one moment, then she'd find herself dreading seeing Sparrow again, before that gave away to womanly contentment at the way her lips still felt a little chapped and swollen, which in turn terrified her because it was so unlike anything she'd thought herself to be…

_Why do I keep **on** about this? The man is a pirate, pirates lie, and he enjoys doing anything and everything he can to get a rise out of me. **It** should mean no more and no less to me than anything else the insufferable man has done._

But it did.

Changing positions for the seventh or eighth time inside an hour, Winn opened her eyes and stared into the quiet darkness of her room.

_That's the problem. Everything the man does or says simply means **too** **much** to me. It touches me more deeply than anything has in years. But **why?**_

That was what it all boiled down to really, the fact that this _one_ man had managed to get past all her defenses, to crush all her resistance as far as impartiality and unconcern went. Her earlier words came back to haunt her. _"You hurt him and I'll come after you next."_

Yes, those were the words of detachment and disinterest.

_I don't want to care. I don't want to feel. _But she did. _ So what do I do? What **can** I do? Do I let this…fascination…run its course?_ The thought terrified her.

She'd spent so many years building up an image of herself, one that would keep others from worrying about her. She either folded to the requests of her family or she talked her way out of them, but she never said no. Well, she did, but only when it was expected of her and how could that count as speaking her mind? How could she be herself? What people saw was a Winn who was tough. Who was self-reliant. Who couldn't care less about the passage of time and how every year made it more unlikely that she would find the things that tempted her so late at night.

She laughed it off. She told Elizabeth that she wouldn't know what to do with a husband and children of her own. She told her grandparents that she was perfectly happy living in their home where she had no real responsibilities of her own. If the empty hours chafed her, then that was her problem, wasn't it? And if she never spoke her true mind, if she never mentioned all those unfulfilled desires, then she was never vulnerable.

Was she?

_Well, there's obviously one thing…person…I'm vulnerable to. _

And her brothers had caught her unguarded. They seen her with her mask off. _ If it's that undependable, maybe it deserves to come off._ The very thought scared her. It'd been so many years since she'd lived without it and once it was off for good then she had a responsibility to see to herself, to fill those empty places so that the mask wasn't needed.

Yet wearing her mask had become so exhausting of late.

_Is that it then?_ The decision seemed so anticlimactic for all the thought and heartache that'd gone into it. But then again, it was a choice she'd been pondering for months before Captain Jack Sparrow had crossed her path. Perhaps he'd hurried things along but she'd been feeling dissatisfied for so very long.

_I'll have to apologize._ _To Ry at the very least. Likely to others. _Likely to the man who managed to rip off her mask every time they met.

Slowly and fitfully falling asleep, confusion and questions running through her mind even as she slumbered, Winn managed to make it through the night. And if her dreams held a bit more of Jack Sparrow then they normally did, that was understandable.

* * *

In the carriage the next morning, Winn brooded and watched the greenery pass by her window, responding absentmindedly to her nieces' exclamations and ignoring her sister-in-laws' attempts to draw her into conversation. She knew that Catherine and Grace both observed her with concern in their eyes, and finally their good-natured bantering pulled her out of her brooding.

"I suppose those brothers of mine sent you in as the cavalry. Were they afraid that the raging harpy of last night hadn't completely cooled down yet?"

Grace jumped at the opening Winn gave them. She was a naturally curious person and it was so rare to see Winn in a _mood_. "To be fair, the term 'raging harpy' was never used. They just weren't sure if you'd be feeling hospitable towards their gender at the moment and thought it might be prudent to stay out of sight for the time being. Not that they would tell us _why_ you might be upset. Would you care to?"

"How long do we have before the _Kingfisher_ leaves port?" Winn doubted it was enough to tell her story is all its complex glory.

"That bad, hmm? Sounds like this is a conversation that will have to wait. You can explain everything to us in a bit." Cat knew her husband was eager to complete this trip as quickly as was humanly possible. The thought of having a peeved Winn on his ship for even a little under a week had actually caused him to shudder the night before. Then again, he'd always had a hard time putting his foot down when it came to his little sister, especially when he was worried about her.

Having been married to the man for so long, Cat knew that he was _very_ worried at the moment.

"Us? I take it that means you're not just here to see us off, Grace."

"Marcus decided it would be advantageous to send the girls and me on ahead on the _Kingfisher_ while he finished tying up some loose ends here. He'll follow in a day, or more likely two." As she spoke, Grace rested a hand on her belly.

Eyeing Grace's mildly pregnant form uncertainly, Winn said, "I've never thought to ask this, but you're not prone to seasickness when you're pregnant, are you?"

Grace laughed, "Believe it or not, the _only_ time I can ride a ship without getting seasick is when I am pregnant. It's a joke at the fort that Marcus is married to what has to be the worst sailor in the entire Caribbean."

The coach rocked to a stop and the women disembarked. Cat hurried to see her husband and Grace was pulled up the gangplank by her excited girls, but Winn loitered and stared up at the ship. Once she was on board it would be difficult to avoid anyone. Privacy would be scarce. If she went through with her decision from the night before, everyone down to the last galley boy would know of it before nightfall.

_I'm insane. Insanity clearly runs in my family,_ she thought as she boarded the ship.

It started the moment she set foot on deck. Cat and Grace wouldn't even let her go put her pet in her assigned cabin. Ryan watched as his wife and sister-in-law bundled Winn into his cabin. They disappeared from view without a glace to spare him. Shrugging and thinking something about women and gossip, Ry gave the order to raise anchor, cast off from the mooring, and to set sail.

* * *

Apparently whatever discussion that the womenfolk had been so intent upon having was rapidly resolved. An hour after they had entered his cabin, Grace and Winn emerged, Cat standing in the doorway. Grace left the other two, after a hug for Winn, to go occupy her girls with lessons.

Cat gave Winn a kiss on the cheek, then said something in a low voice. Nodding in her husband's direction, she gave an encouraging smile. Winn nodded back, grasping Cat's hand.

Ry watched as Winn left his wife and came in his direction. Her attitude and bearing were in stark contrast to what they had been the previous night. She wasn't furious, for one thing; to all appearances she seemed nervous and conciliatory. Reaching him, she asked, "Can I talk to you for a moment, or do you have matters which require tending?"

"You have my full, undivided, and most humble attention." This brought a bit of a smile to her eyes before her countenance became serious again.

Taking a deep breath, as if to calm her nerves, Winn said, "I want to apologize for yelling at you last night. You had done nothing to either deserve my ire and I behaved like an ungracious child. And not just that. I also want to apologize for being so…so distant these past few years. I…I was wondering if you would forgive me." Winn watched the deck, studying her bare feet.

"Oh, Freddy. I'm your brother. You know I forgive you. In fact, I think I need to offer my own apology." Winn looked up, startled, unable to form a protest in her surprise. "Actually, I think we all – Marcus, Richard, and I – need to apologize. I think we spoiled you in our desire to see you happy. Now, don't start looking at me like that," Winn was glowering. "You know it's true to some point. We wanted the best for you, and in doing so we may not have gone about things in the right way."

Winn snorted. "I've been grown up for a long time now, Ry. I'm old enough to own up to my own mistakes and messes. But thanks for the out, even if I'm not taking it."

Ry grinned. "What are big brothers for?"

Winn suddenly reached out and hugged her brother, something she had rarely done since before he left home to make his own life. Trying to hold back tears of giddiness and relief, she said, "Thank you." They remained like that for several moments before Winn pulled away and commented with a laugh and a sniff, "Well, just one more to go."

"What do you mean?" Ry was intrigued. Winn's behavior was highly unusual.

"I mean that I still need to speak to our, umm…our guest."

"No," Ry instantly refused. "You're not to have anything more to do with that man."

Winn couldn't help the way her temper flared. She was on edge, her nerves raw with both relief and anxiety. "You have no right to demand –"

"I have _every_ right. This is my ship and you're my sister."

"So you want the rumors to grow."

Ry narrowed his eyes; Winn's reasonable tone made him suspicious. Perhaps mentioning those rumors had been a tactical error. "And your meeting with Sparrow is going to help how?"

"If you're keeping me away from him by lock and key, everyone will assume there's a reason for it, and they'll create one when one isn't shared with them. However, if he and I are cordial to each other in the presence of my brother, then they won't know what to think. And that at least will keep them from assuming that any untoward behavior occurred between us."

"You've given this thought."

Winn rolled her eyes. "As if any of you would listen to me if I couldn't defend my stance. Can I have your keys? I might as well let him out while I'm down there."

Ry acted as if he were prepared to hand his keys over, but he didn't let go when she reached for them. "I have one condition: you are to look after yourself."

"I will." Winn looked her brother in the eye.

"If you don't, the crew will have more to talk about than your supposed misconduct with Sparrow."

"I _said_ I'd be careful. This is something I need to do, Ry. I may not like it, but it still needs to be done."

Ryan hesitated another long moment. "Did you discuss this with Cat?"

"Dear lord," Winn muttered under her breath. "And you wonder why I've learned to support my arguments. Yes, I discussed this with Cat, yes I have her full blessing, and yes I will tattle on you if you don't give me the blasted keys."

She breathed a sigh of relief when her brother nodded in understanding and reluctantly released the keys.

"Thank you." Winn left her brother, determined to get this last apology over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. When she was halfway across deck, Ry yelled after her, "It's good to see that you're not peeved, Freddy. I'm not sure I could have taken that for the entire trip."

Winn made a semi-rude hand gesture at her brother. "Just because I like you doesn't mean you can get away with saying things like that, Ry!" And with that she disappeared down the hatch that led to the brig, her stomach roiling with anxiety and apprehension. Despite the fact that she was on her brother's ship, she felt like she was about to beard the lion in his den. _Let us hope that pirates really **can't** smell fear…_


	13. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I now own about 24 ticket stubs, a PotC poster, both soundtracks, a Jack Sparrow plushie form McDonald's, the two-disc editions of Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man's Chest, and a(n) (un)cursed Aztec coin. Unfortunately, that does not mean I own any of the characters but there's one or two who own a piece of my mind.

**Author's Note:** some of Jack and Winn's conversation in the first section and in the last may not make total sense unless you know the history between Jack and Beckett. I'm not putting it here in case there are readers who are trying to avoid spoilers. You can PM me or look up "Jack Sparrow" on Wikipedia to get the details. (Details which were on the official Disney PotC site, so I feel no guilt at incorporating them.)

In the last week, I've updated all the chapters here on the site so that they match my current chapters. As this is a work in progress and a rewrite, I'm constantly editing and reviewing and rewriting. So far it's nothing too big other than Jack's little marriage ceremony with Winn has become a hypothetical.

Terms to Know…**Brightwork:** Brass work, polished (also varnished wood work in yachts).

Replies to reviews being sent out as soon as I get this posted.

* * *

Like Winn, Jack had spent part of the night in contemplation. He regretted being unable to inform his crew of his change in plans. If Winn's grandfather truly was the famous Morgan, then this was an opportunity that could not be allowed to pass. After all, the man was a legend. 

That being said, Jack would feel much easier about the entire situation if he could freely sail into it rather than being brought in like a man condemned. And considering Morgan's reputation, it would have been highly comforting to have a ready means of fleeing the scene if things turned sour.

'Twas the granddaughter however that primarily occupied his thoughts. Though it was a wonder how much force could be delivered by such a tiny fist – and that when she hadn't deliberately been aiming to hurt him – it was her panicked behavior that troubled him. He reviewed their time together over and over, trying to find a cause behind it.

That perhaps she truly wanted nothing to do with him was a theory he discounted almost immediately. Winn didn't act like a disinterested woman. _Well, a good part of the time she doesn't act like a disinterested woman._ He remembered that scene in his cabin the night of the storm, before she had spent hours battling the elements quite literally at his side. Her touch had been tender, as though she hadn't been humoring him but had honestly believed him to be in pain. The makeshift bandage he'd demanded was wrapped around his wrist now, having somehow become part of his attire. He wondered what Winn would think of that if she knew. The woman from that night, the one with the softly warm cheeks, the soothing voice and touch…she would likely – _finally_ – raise her lidded eyes to meet his with perhaps a bit of trepidation but without fear. The woman from tonight…

If only there'd been _light._ Voices could be disciplined. Eyes were a bit harder to guard unless one lived a hard life.

Once again Jack pulled the scene from the past night to the forefront of his memory where events ran markedly slower than they had in real life. Winn's stiff body, her shuttered eyes, her tense, mulish jaw. She'd been outraged and tough when she'd walloped him. She'd been shocked when he'd kissed her. Lingering over that kiss was a poor idea considering it was the lass's brother who had him locked away so Jack hustled the memory along. What had happened when he'd broken the kiss? She'd laid there beneath him, lips as tightly sealed as a cask of water on a long sea voyage…she'd started wishing him to the devil…tears on her cheek…anger had quickly replaced bewilderment and anger…

And the other times? The other moments when tension had risen swiftly between them? Winn fought. Winn hid. And once Winn could neither fight nor hide?

Caught somewhere between regret and a rising feeling of renewed confidence, Jack's train of thought was broken by the small clinking sound of keys hitting each other. Assuming it was Captain Morgan coming to let him out, he raised his hat from his eyes. The woman consuming his thoughts stood in front of his cell, bottom lip caught between her teeth, uncertainty evident in her very bearing.

_ Oh, the things I can do with a Winnie who's no longer fighting or hiding._

Jack was canny enough to realize that any advantage he had now would be lost if he immediately resumed his pursuit of the lady. This time he had to be more subtle. This time he needed to be more coercive. Winn needed to be gentled and eased into accepting what he wanted. The moment she felt trapped, she'd fight. He doubted even she could stop that very basic reaction and without a substantial reward, he was quickly reaching the limits of his patience.

Resettling his hat over his eyes, Jack feigned annoyance and asked in a waspish voice, "Come to survey your handiwork, Miss Morgan?"

He waited through her hesitation. He listened as she took a deep breath and hid a smile when he heard her reconciliatory tone.

"My handiwork is all I would have to view?" The question was tentative; Winn's voice was almost too quiet to be heard over the creakings of a ship in motion yet the concern in it was unmistakable.

She was concerned for her brothers' conduct when the larger threat came from the man who ordered it. Well, that preoccupation with the present was something that Jack could both understand and manipulate. "Wondering if your brothers did what most sensible men would do to a scoundrel they discovered hovering over their sister's body?"

At first Winn fought the thrill caused by his phrasing. Then she remembered her decision to stop being so untouched by those around her. As she relaxed, the thrill died off and while she was left feeling off balance she didn't feel the need to lash out defensively either.

Feeling more confident inside her own skin, Winn commented, "Men put too much stock in reputations."

_I'll wager the little lamb's never voiced **that** opinion to her brothers, else she'd be long locked away in a convent somewhere. _Though her belief would make shearing her easier, Jack couldn't help the cynical twist of his lips. "As interesting as the implications of that statement surely are, only someone who's never lost theirs would say that with such certainty, Miss Morgan."

"And how does a pirate lose his reputation?" she drawled back, rankled by the way he seemed to be talking down to her. "Do the other pirates tattle when tarnish appears on the brightwork?"

Jack slowly rose to his feet to join her by the grating. "Not _all_ men become pirates by choice, luv."

Lord, how she hated that endearment. It was so very impersonal when he used it. "You were _born_ a pirate, Jack Sparrow."

"Be that as it may…" Jack started to evade her point, uncomfortable with how deeply Winn's comments were digging without her even trying. Then he rolled his eyes as he caught himself. Apparently he wasn't the only one who could effectively distract someone with conversation. "I'm not sure which is harder – your head or mine."

"What do you mean?" Despite the grating separating them Winn felt as if Jack were crowding her. As if the tension of being below decks wasn't bad enough, she'd been hurt by the distance he'd kept since she'd arrived. Somehow it felt different when she was the one maintaining that space. In her agitation, she hadn't noticed that one of her hands had wrapped itself around one of the bars during the course of their discussion. Jack's hand now rested just a segment above and it was difficult to rid her mind of the image of his hand sliding down, of what it would feel like should his hand come to rest atop hers. It was exciting and distressing at the same time because she felt as if she'd somehow crossed a boundary with him. Not one of her own making, but one of his and she didn't know he would react to it. How he _was_ reacting to it.

"Why did you come down here, luv? I seem to remember once having to force you below decks. Was it the dark along with the tight spaces –" Was that why she'd panicked the night before? "– or was it an act for my benefit?"

"I was a prisoner on your ship, Captain Sparrow. I was unsettled enough as it was without also being trapped in a small, dark space." She hadn't expected her family's treatment of him to put him a good mood, but this was harder to bear than she'd imagined. He spoke as if he'd never held a high opinion of her.

"And you feel more secure – nay, _safer_ – on your brother's ship than you did on mine?"

The low purr in his voice disconcerted her. "I would think that goes without saying." _Action has to be better than talking._ The keys jangled against each other as she reached out to unlock the door. She almost jumped and just barely contained a scream behind her locked lips when Jack's hand intercepted hers.

"Yes, I can see how safe you feel," he taunted gently as he wrapped his fingers firmly around her wrist. "I'm glad you have the sense to know that bein' down here, all alone with a pirate whom you've just happened to have wounded isn't without risk. What makes you think I won't wrest these keys from you then lock _you_ in here? Or do something worse?" Jack's voice was low and intense.

Winn started to tremble, the anxiety getting to her. She'd never seen him act like this, so was unsure of how to deal with it. But whatever the answer, she knew cowering from him wasn't it. Forcing some iron into her spine, she said in the same quiet voice she'd been using, "I've decided to stop assuming anything when it comes to your actions, Captain Sparrow. If it makes you feel better though, I don't think you deserve to be here." A wave of her free hand indicated the brig as well as the motion of the ship carrying them.

Deserve, was it? Well, that set him in uncharted waters. He knew she didn't _want_ him here but that was different than feeling as if he hadn't done anything to _deserve_ being here.

Just what was going on in that pretty little head?

He wanted to know but waiting wouldn't bring him answers any more than polite questions would. To that end, Jack pulled Winn's arm through the grate until her body was pressed against the metal. _If only she could see how large her eyes are,_ he thought as he stepped forward to meet her. "And what _do_ I deserve, Miss Morgan?"

"I –" Winn had to stop and work up enough moisture to allow her to speak clearly. "I think inflicting our company on one another more than paid our debts."

There were times when Jack could kiss Winn for doing his work for him. In fact… "I'm so glad you agree," he murmured with a wicked grin as he worked his thumb into her loose fist.

Winn looked on with a blank face and a racing heart as Jack opened her closed hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. His moustache rasped on the delicate skin, leaving behind echoes of sensation while his lips and breath heated what anxiety had chilled.

Jack ended the kiss but not the silence. For once he could see Winn's eyes as she struggled to work her way though what had just happened. Hints and tatters of emotion churned in her eyes and stayed there as she focused on him. "What do I agree with?"

"To keep me company until we reach our destination." He folded her hand over the spot he'd kissed.

"And why would I agree to that?"

"Because it's my intention to work my way into your good graces so that by the time we arrive to greet your renowned grandfather you'll have a very good reason to plead for leniency in my treatment." Jack replied in a slurred, sing-song rhythm that would ensure that Winn wouldn't take a word of his confession seriously. "And the only way to do that is for me to spend time in your diverting presence. Let me out, luv."

She moved to do as he directed, but it was as if lamps had been put out behind her eyes. No longer did she look as if she was taking what he said to heart. Jack watched her carefully as he stepped out of the cell. The Winn he saw before him now was the one that had been captured on that piece of paper in her sketchbook – an awkward girl trying desperately to remain unnoticed. _No matter. I was prepared for a challenge either way. _

Winn didn't know what to do now that she was face, well, head to chest with a very unpredictable man. Her bare feet were comfortable but left her dwarfed by those around her and Sparrow seemed strangely taller than her brothers in this moment even if her rational mind screamed that he wasn't. She remembered all too well how much strength he could exert should he chose to. If revenge were truly his intent right now, her chances of stopping him were slim. Yet… "Why must you lie when the truth will gain you more than falsehood?" she challenged softly.

Crossing his arms and leaning into her personal space, Jack drawled, "You think me a liar? Then let me accompany you until I grow bored." If she wanted truth then the truth was that he greatly enjoyed matching wits with her, enjoyed annoying her, enjoyed watching irritation light up her eyes. The truth was thatWinn could be a beautiful thing to watch when she fumed and constructed plans in that devious head of hers. Winn in action forgot all about whatever it was she was trying hide, forgot to guard herself.

"And what would that accomplish besides whatever your agenda is?"

"It would prove me the liar you accuse me of being, would it not?"

Winn was silent for a long moment before opening her mouth. "Deals with demons," she whispered.

Jack knew he'd won then, and it made him cocky. "Oh, I'm no demon, luv. Of that you can be assured."

"Met many demons, have you?"

"A few. Say yes."

"Why?"

"Because if you do then your brother can't stop me."

"You're daft if you think that," Winn snorted.

"Alright, then if you say yes, you won't let your brother stop _you_."

"A fine reason to say no."

"But not nearly as fun." Jack moved closer to her. As he reclaimed her hand and closed her fingers around the spot he kissed he lured, "Say yes, luv."

* * *

As she emerged from the hatch that led from below decks, Winn was immediately assaulted not only by the brightness of the sun, but by the joyous, screaming voices of her nieces. "Auntie Winn! We're on a _boat!_" 

Quickly scrambling on deck, her bare feet slapping the wood, Winn stood up. She was on the verge of crossing the deck to her nieces, but paused. She'd never know what'd made her nod her agreement to Jack's insane desire to spend time in her company. No, that wasn't true. She knew why she'd done it, she just couldn't tell how she'd worked up the courage to do it. _Ry is not going to be happy with me,_ she thought as she watched Sparrow emerge in much the same way she had, his kohl-lined eyes squinting at the sun's early morning ferocity.

That small sign of humanity helped Winn to relax, as did the breeze ruffling her hair. "I thought that stuff was supposed to help you to _not_ squint, Captain."

Jack glanced down at her. In his boots he was about eight inches taller than the slim woman. "There's a big difference between lamplight and sunlight, Winnie. Besides, the kohl simply adds to my mysterious charm."

"Oh, absolutely." Winn allowed a hint of sarcasm creep into her voice.

Jack tilted his head towards her, making sure she knew she received his full attention. "Winnie? You think I'm charming?"

Taking a long look at him, head to toes, then meeting his eyes, Winn replied slowly, "I think you're too charming for the good of most women, Captain."

"So you _do_ think I'm charming."

Jack was doing that thing with his voice again, teasing her in a way that begged her to lose all semblance of composure. It was working better than it usually did, Winn noted. _It **must** be because I'm tired._

Swallowing and turning her head, Winn answered, "I _think_ I will strive not to be most women." Surveying the _Kingfisher's_ deck to avoid his eyes, Winn saw that her young relations had grown bored of waiting to get her attention. Meggie and Elsa, towing an unsteady Zoë between them, were headed their way.

Deciding it was best to intercept the small disasters before anything could happen, Winn politely said to Jack, "If you would wait here for just a moment," before going to meet her nieces.

Quickly reaching them, Winn scooped up Zoë who was growing cranky as she tired of being pulled around. Teasing the older girls, she said, "Well, what are the two of you up to, hmm? Getting underfoot? Pushing men overboard?"

"_No_, Aun'win. We're _hungry_. We want breksfest," Elsa said in an urgent voice. "An' Momma said that we coulds find you, and you'd help us. Will you help us, Aun'win? Please?"

Winn smiled at the enthusiasm of youth. "Yes, of course. Tell you what, we'll even go eat in the _galley_." Elsa looked impressed. "Have you seen the galley yet?" Elsa shook her head.

"I have, Auntie Winn." Meggie looked smug because she could remember being on the ship last year to go visit her great-grandpapa.

"Then you, Miss Meggie, can show us were it is. But first I need to show your uncle's guest to a cabin and I need to check on Pigeon." A voice from behind Winn made her start. _Blast the man, why is he always hovering?_

"I believe you also promised me breakfast, lass. Why don't I just join you and these lovely ladies?" Jack ignored Winn's glare and examined the girls instead. His only experience with children was the need to watch his pockets against wharf-rats when ashore in places like Tortuga. He had no idea how to deal with _these_ children. But he was Captain Jack Sparrow and they were female, weren't they? Just in miniature? His strategy for dealing with women should work just as well on them.

Meggie, being the bolder member of the trio, cocked her head to side. "Are you a pirate?" she asked in a considering voice, as if trying to decide whether or not this man was worthy of her attention.

_ Then again, they **are** related to Winnie, _he thought as he found himself the target of four pairs of curious eyes. Suddenly he was unsure of what to do. He glanced at Winn, hoping that she would step in and handle this. She just raised her brows, seeming to say, _"What? You can't answer a child's question?"_ Looking back down at the girl, Jack said slowly, "Yes."

"Are you a good pirate or a bad pirate?"

_What answer am I supposed to give to that?_ Jack wondered. _What kind of question is it anyway? If I'm a pirate, then the rest should be moot. Really bad eggs, and all that. _

Winn, seeing Jack's consternation, took pity on the man, and asked her precocious niece, "Meggie? What have I told you about good pirates and bad pirates?" Zoë decided she was bored with the conversation, and started tugging on Winn's braid.

"Umm…" Tugging on her own curly hair, Meggie considered this question. "You said that no one ever hears of the bad pirates, 'cause they get killed before anyone _can_ know about them, and that good pirates are the ones that people like to read about in the papers."

"That's right."

"But Auntie, I don't know who he _is_."

Kneeling to look the youngster in the eye, Winn said, "I'm sorry. I should have introduced you, shouldn't I?" Meggie nodded once with great conviction. "Well, in that case, Margaret, this is Jack Sparrow, captain of the _Black Pearl_."

Meggie looked back up at Jack (who had been watching the whole interchange avidly) with renewed interest. "You're a good pirate?" Jack just nodded. "Why are you here?"

"Ahh…"

Winn smoothly answered the question as she rose to her feet. "Because your great-grandfather has heard some interesting stories and wants to meet the man behind them."

Ruffling the girl's hair, Winn changed the subject. "I thought you girls wanted breakfast." Elsa and Meggie exuberantly agreed, bouncing up and down. "Then I suggest that we go get some before it's all gone. Captain Sparrow, should you wish it, you are free to join us." _Please say no, please say no… _

Jack saw the look in her eyes and deciding that he really had nothing to lose – after all Winn had already agreed to spend her time with him and so he wasn't _really_ taking advantage of her – said, "I'd love to join you, Winnie."

_Bloody scoundrel._ Winn nodded stiffly, either from irritation or nervousness, though Jack couldn't tell which. Aloud she simply said, "Of course, Captain. Meggie, if you would take Captain Sparrow in hand and then lead us to the galley…?" Taking the suggestion ever so well, Meggie took Jack's hand in her own childish one. She led the way back down below decks chattering and asking questions of Jack. He did his best to keep up with the sprite after shooting a look at Winn that promised later retribution.

Winn just smiled serenely as she followed after the pair and planned her own tactics. Sparrow wanted to spend time with her? Fine. She'd see just how long he was willing to put up with her family. She might not allow Ry to pound Sparrow into the ground but there was more than one way to skin a cat.

* * *

Dusk arrived quickly that evening, at least in Winn's eyes. She wasn't so sure how Jack felt about it considering the enthusiasm of her nieces and that he'd been the children's main source of entertainment for the day. 

She was standing at the prow of the ship, a place that calmed her, made her feel as if she could throw her problems to the wind that washed over her to be left forever behind. That's why she was there now – she was trying to soak some of the night's tranquility into her being. For the moment Jack had been thrown off the chase; he'd left her side but Winn knew it was simply so he could regroup and attack from another angle. It was a pattern that'd existed between them almost from the moment they'd met, but it wasn't as exhausting as it usually was. The benefit of standing firmly in her own stronghold, she supposed.

As she stood watching the first stars of the evening appear in the murky light of dusk, she felt someone come up behind her. She knew who it was before she turned around, could feel the presence of the man whom she was waiting for. A soft, resigned sigh escaped her as she thought, _What if I don't **want** to be able to feel him near me? _

Jack strolled over to Winn when it became apparent that she was perfectly happy to let the silence stand. He slouched back against the rail, propped up on his elbows as he watched his pretty companion. There was a wistful look on her face that made him very uncomfortable. He wasn't in this for feminine mopes, though that was unavoidably part of dealing with women. The best that could be hoped for was to coax her out of her mood.

"Did I pass your little test?" he drawled while stretching his neck out. He'd spent so many hours looking down that it felt good to tilt his head back.

Winn glanced at the man out of the corner of her eye. He sounded a bit sour, a bit amused, and completely at ease. She had to admit that he didn't look bored or as if he were making the best of a bad bargain.

"I've seen other men do much worse," she said as she turned her gaze back out to sea. She wasn't at all surprised that he'd figured the game out. But then anyone who wanted a part of her – even if it was only her time – had to understand that her family already bespoke much of her resources.

"You've done this before." Neither question nor statement, yet it was said in a way that sought more information nonetheless.

"You should count yourself lucky, Captain Sparrow. I used to do much worse to prospective beaus. I used to introduce them to Elizabeth. She was terribly frank as a child. They would always be disconcerted."

Jack snorted softly and she gifted him with a rare smile, one that included him in her past mischief. He tucked away her comment about "prospective beaus" for later discussion even as he thought, _That's my girl._ Winnie hadn't even tried to appear innocent.

"Yes, well, I suppose she is a bit freer with her opinion when she's out from under her father's watchful eye."

"And when she's under _your_ watchful eye?" Jack asked.

It was the wrong question to ask. Winn's relaxed posture stiffened and her fingers curled around the rail rather than lying comfortably atop it.

"Elizabeth is a woman grown. She doesn't need me to watch over her any longer." Winn cut herself off before she could say more. Sparrow already knew enough about her to make her uncomfortable.

"And when she did have need of it?" No answer. Jack knew there was more to it though, and he pressed for the answers he wanted. "You said that she doesn't need you any longer. What about when she did?"

Winn turned, her mouth open and ready to protest this unwanted invasion into her privacy, but Jack silenced her by laying a finger over her parted lips. Her eyes went big with surprise at the contact, and something that Jack didn't have time to decipher passed through her eyes before she lowered them. Jack waited a moment, then spoke; his eyes were locked on her face in the hope she wouldn't bolt.

"I thought we'd agreed to provide each other with a bit of friendly companionship while at sea." Those blue eyes rose to meet his with veiled suspicion. "Friends talk, do they not?"

"I wasn't aware we'd become friends," Winn whispered. Her lips brushed against the finger that Jack had laid against them, stirring in him a sudden urge to kiss her.

He reluctantly removed his finger from her lips, instead choosing to curl his hand around her chin. "If that's how you feel I'm sure I could be persuaded to discuss the position of 'prospective beau' that you mention earlier."

"That's even more ludicrous than us becoming friends."

"Ouch. That sharp tongue of yours certainly has a way of deflating a man's ego."

"What do you want from me, Sparrow?"

Winn hadn't backed down yet and Jack pulled his hand back before it could get him into trouble. "Just to talk." He seated himself and waited for Winn to do the same. She stood looking down at him as if she were afraid he might try to eat her. "Come now, Winnie. I've already told you I'll only bite if you ask me to."

His assurance did nothing to ease her fears. _What if I'm uncertain whether I want to be bitten or not?_ The question sparked a strange kind of friction in her gut; Winn crossed her arms protectively over her middle as she reluctantly took a seat. Her pose immediately felt ungraceful. As she so often did when she felt alone or unhappy she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her bare toes stuck out from underneath the hem of her full breeches. She contemplated them, curled them up then relaxed them against the deck, and said, "Fine. We'll talk. But the moon is on her way. I wish to be in my cabin before she reaches her zenith."

"Your cabin, is it? If you're that eager, we could adjourn there now."

She shot him a sharp look, unable to cope with his teasing innuendos at the moment. "_We_ will not be doing anything of the sort. If you want to talk, then talk already."

"Why should I talk when I'm still waiting for an answer from you?"

Winn was quiet for a long time. Unconsciously she started to breathe along with the sound of waves against the hull, trying to pull that calm into herself. Finally she softly admitted, "My parents died when I was fifteen. Because she was friends with my mother, Mrs. Swann accepted me into her household. As the only other child really, it seemed to naturally fall to me to spend time with Elizabeth."

"And?"

"And nothing." There was no way she was going to tell Jack Sparrow of all people how it'd felt to be a penniless girls of doubtful connection and parentage in a household that revolved around Mr. Swann's growing political career. He'd never hear how at the end of the day Elizabeth would go to her parents – and later just her doting father – while Winn went to her room to be alone.

Jack watched the growing bleakness on her face and knew he didn't need to hear the words from her lips. He knew how the world worked. He knew that children without protection were taken advantage of. And he knew Winn. She wasn't one to complain. If she'd thought watching Elizabeth was what had been expected from her, she would have done it and taken pride in how well she did it.

But even though Winn's life would have still been physically softer than that of the dirty, ragged urchins who filled port towns, that was no proof against loneliness – as her face evidenced. Though, if she still counted Elizabeth Swann as a friend, then her time in the household couldn't have been terrible.

There was just one thing that bothered him. If the lady's family was a close-knit as it seemed to be, then… "Where were your brothers during all this?"

Winn gave a short laugh. "Here. Half a world away from England, and bachelors all. 'Twas likely a blessing for all involved."

Jack found the way she kept stopping extremely irritating. "Why's that?"

Her hands fisted in her trouser legs, then relaxed, smoothing the fabric. "Because they wouldn't have had a chance of keeping me under control then. As it was, Ry had only been married to Cat for a few weeks before I arrived with the Swanns, and Cat was the only one with sense to see that my grandparents had the only hope of completing my upbringing." Winn closed her eyes and took several breaths as she attempted to put away the memories that even such a limited retelling had aroused. She nearly ached with loneliness for the family she had lost though she wouldn't trade the family she'd gained for anything.

When she finally opened her eyes, Winn saw that the moon was several degrees above the horizon. "It's late. How did you keep me talking so long without actually giving anything away yourself?"

Jack heard the tightness in her voice, knew that she resented him for the easy way he'd coaxed a painful story out of her. And he had no intention of repaying her in kind. "And what is it that you'd want to know?"

The look Jack received in reply was shrewd, calculating. For a moment he almost feared whatever Winn would find the courage to ask. _It's not as if you have to tell the truth, mate,_ the pirate within him said, and the thought comforted. "Ask away, luv. I can see you're dying to say something outrageous."

"Not so outrageous," Winn disagreed, though his acceptance that she _could_ be outrageous soothed her for some reason. "Alright. Why did you turn pirate, Jack Sparrow? As professions go it's a risky choice."

_She would ask that,_ Jack thought sourly.

_You don't have to tell her the truth, but then she wouldn't believe the truth in this case either,_ his pirate self advised.

Settling for a mixture of both, Jack said glibly, "I was unjustly accused of a crime I didn't commit and I dedicated my life to clearing my name."

"By committing crimes for which you can _justly_ be hung?" Winn shook her head. "Fine, I can play along. Who were you _before_ you were _Captain_ Jack Sparrow?"

"A royal bastard."

Winn couldn't help her surprised laughter. "Which royal family?"

"Does it matter?"

"Since I'm being fed a fairy tale, I suppose not." Still, it hurt not to have her trust returned in kind. _More the fool, I._ "I should go to bed. I haven't been sleeping well lately." The words tumbled out of her reckless mouth before she could stop them.

With a groan she stood and started walking towards the stern where the cabins were located. Hearing the thump of boots on the deck behind her, she glanced back. Captain Sparrow appeared to be deep in thought, and that annoyed her. She didn't want to give him food for thought. She didn't want him to care if she did.

Reaching her room as quickly as she could, she opened the door and started to enter, needing to get away from Jack Sparrow as soon as she could. The way that she was feeling now left her with few options should the man attempt to irritate her. The one winning out involved her throwing herself at him. If she could be sure that it would be out of anger, she wouldn't hesitate to enter into a verbal exchange with the man. Her nerves were raw, her body humming with nervous energy – a fight would be just the thing to drain some of it off.

However, she was feeling a second emotion that, while it fed off the anger, it really had nothing to do with the anger. The feeling scared her, and almost overwhelmed her intention to start allowing herself to feel things instead of stuffing them down inside herself. It was a dark, restless, irresponsible feeling, and Winn was scared of what it might lead her to do. And with whom it might lead her to do those things.

Yet there was a question she regretted not asking, and as she paused in her open door the desire to ask it grew until she found herself turning to catch Sparrow before he opened his own cabin.

Just as she opened her mouth to voice her concern, the door to Sparrow's cabin snicked shut, leaving Winn along with the quiet night.

She never knew that her brother watched approvingly from the deck as she closed herself into her own quarters without having further discussion with Sparrow.

* * *


	14. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** I couldn't think of a better way to end the year than to post a chapter. ;) Might as well let the year go out as I intend to go on in the new year, right?

**Disclaimer:** all I own is a sweet sense of satisfaction that the four year old boy I babysit came up to me today and said, "Sarah! Guess what? I watched Pirates of the Caribbean last night!" He was so excited to tell me and I was so proud. And proud of his mom who informed me with a wink that every time the "ghost pirates" came on the screen she skipped ahead to the next scene. Considering we're talking about a four year old not to mention his attention span, I think she's a smart lady.

* * *

Jack sat in his cabin, listening to the noises coming from next door. It was a tiny room, barely large enough to hold the bunk on which he sat. Still, it was better than being interred in the brig, unable to get loose, unable to roam freely. If he felt somewhat claustrophobic, then that was balanced by the ability to come and go as he pleased.

His musings were interrupted by a series of muffled bangs. It sounded as if the person… Who was he kidding? It was Winn next door and Jack was well aware of it. A little _too_ aware of it if the considering looks he'd been getting from the lady's adult family meant anything.

Anyway, it sounded as if Winn were opening and then slamming shut her trunks, though the sounds were coming _from_ the wall rather than _through_ the wall.

He moved to lay down on his bunk as he listened, the assorted accouterments stung and woven into his hair clicking and jingling with the movement. Crossing his arms behind his head and toeing off his boots, Jack stared at the small patch of stars and dark grey sky that indicated where the porthole was.

The thumping continued next door. Every once in awhile it was accompanied by a excited yip. Winn's vexed murmurs reached his ears, the tone distinct but not the words. Jack listened to those murmurings, soaking in the cadence of Winn's voice. Though he'd listened to her speak all day long, it'd been to children. Even the things she'd addressed to him before that evening had been spoken lightly. It'd been frustrating, being treated as if he were no older than Winn's nieces, but hardly unexpected. After that revelation about her heritage, Jack didn't trust Winn not to present him with more unpleasant surprises and she'd reacted to the distance he'd created accordingly.

Not that she still hadn't knocked him off balance despite his vigilance. When she had come down to the brig that morning, he had expected to hear that she'd been granted his head on a silver platter. The manifestation of Winn that had stood before him uncertainly had been barely recognizable. Where had his Fury been? He enjoyed their verbal skirmishes, and while he had to admit that he occasionally stepped over the line in provoking her, didn't it all equal out when she overreacted in her response?

_The real question, I suppose,_ he thought, listening to more ominous noises from across the wall, _is why does that woman fascinate me so? _His interest in both Winn and her treasure map were becoming more perilous to his health with every passing mile, yet he remained undaunted in his desire to secure them for his profit. And even that didn't make since considering the lass in question was argumentative, combative, pigheaded… Jack rolled his eyes. _And so chock full of thwarted **life** that only a dead man wouldn't dream of seeing her freed of all constraints. _By this point Jack was so involved that the eventual outpouring didn't even necessarily have to include a seduction – though he'd count himself a fool not to try. To put it plainly, Winn was his newest form of diversion.

A thump, considerably louder than the rest, sounded against the wall near his head. He started, caught unaware. "This is ridiculous," he muttered. "She'll bring the entire ship down on our heads." Raising his voice, Jack told the woman across the wall, "Winnie, if you don't settle down and stop makin' so much noise, I'm going to come over there and quiet you myself, and I highly doubt that you will appreciate the methods I use to do so. At first."

* * *

Winn automatically reached out to catch the ragball she'd been bouncing off the wall in an attempt to work off some of her nervous energy. In her agitation she hadn't cared that the wall between the two cabins was thin. Still, she was a bit startled to find that Jack's voice carried so clearly through the planking.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you," she replied automatically though her rebellious mind thought, _Well, that's a lie. You deserve to sample your own methods. _" Though I wouldn't come over uninvited if I were you, Captain. Even if there weren't a guard posted all night, Ry lets me carry my knives aboard ship."

Jack smiled at Winn's words. While they were apologetic in wording, they were also a blatant challenge. It wasn't so different from the way she'd behaved aboard the _Kestrel_. _She still feels threatened._ A slow smile spread his lips. _Winn may have noticed one distance I'm keeping, but she's __also conscious of the one I'm closing._ Uncomfortably so if her attitude was any indication of her mindset.

Winn began to relax when her warning was met with silence. She hoped that she'd shocked him with her reminder that she was armed. In her society, women rarely carried anything more dangerous than a lap dog or a well-constructed fan. She closed her eyes as she thought about what it would be like to have Sparrow at the end of one of her daggers. She wouldn't hurt the man – at least, she didn't think she would but he did have a way of making her forget herself – but it would be sweet revenge indeed to see the man sweat a little.

"Do you realize that we're sleeping next to each other, luv? Practically in the same bed, we are." Winn was half asleep by the time her peace was again disrupted. In that dreamy state, Jack's voice seemed bodiless, unthreatening. Almost without being aware of herself, she replied without hostility or caution.

"That's fascinating, Captain. Unfortunately, that's as close as you'll ever come to sharing a bed with me."

Jack laughed. It was a low, rough laugh, one that had charmed more than one woman into dangerous waters. _What's gotten into Winnie?_ he wondered._ One moment confident and defiant, the next suggestive._ He found himself tempted to test her boundaries, and because he was used to surrendering to temptation he asked, "Luv, are you even awake?"

"I'm not sure. Do I sound annoyed to you? This seems like a conversation that would annoy me if I were awake."

Jack grinned as he acknowledged the truth of that. "No, you don't sound annoyed at the moment."

"Then I must be dreaming."

"You talk in your sleep?"

"I'm told I used to as a child. As I was always asleep at the time I wouldn't be able to claim otherwise. I suppose you could tell me whether I still do or not."

Jack swallowed. Whatever state Winnie was in, he was enjoying it immensely – even more than he enjoyed an irritated Winn, which was a great deal. _Just think of the possibilities, mate... _ "Was that an invitation, lass?"

"No, I was simply saying…" Winn yawned, "that if you heard me mumbling in my sleep you could inform me of it in the morning." She was barely aware of what she was saying – the last few days of little sleep and much activity were starting to tell on her mental state.

"You leave me disappointed, luv. Here I was thinking that I had finally won you over…"

"Keep working on it, Captain. You might live to see your goal realized…just as you might one day clear your name of all charges against you."

Jack smiled at the point she had scored. "Why don't you call me Jack, lass?" He idly wondered how much of this conversation Winn was actually going to remember in the morning. There were benefits to both her remembering and forgetting it.

_Why don't you call me…?_ Winn sighed and frowned. She was already wrapped tightly in her blankets, but now she also turned towards the wall. Her posture was that of a young woman about to share deep secrets with a confidant. Not even in her dreams would Winn consider Jack a trustworthy secret-keeper, but she was tired and troubled and he was the one listening to her.

"Why have _you_ stopped calling me Winnie?" she asked a bit plaintively.

Jack's mood shifted like a ship fleeing pursuers. He was much less amused as he replied, "Have I? I hadn't noticed."

Winn was silent for a long time before she laid down a soft challenge. "You're lying."

"Why should it matter? I thought you didn't like the nickname."

"I don't." _You do._ She didn't. _Then__ why __press __ the issue?_ Perhaps because, try as she might, she couldn't seem to scare Sparrow off? Because some long ignored part of her was secretly enjoying his transparent attempts to seduce her? After all, as long as she could keep in mind that he only wanted to use her for what she could provide then he presented no threat and she could use him as practice. _Practice for what?_ Not even Winn was daring enough to answer that question. Matters of honesty aside, she truly wasn't yet ready to hear that truth. _I don't want to be the center of this discussion anymore._

"You act like a man betrayed when we both know it was in my best interests to keep my secrets. A woman without connections might be more vulnerable to the advances of men but one with wealth is never safe from those who seek to profit from her."

_How is it that she can be both cynical and naïve at the same time? _"Both women are profited from, luv. One of them simply has different goods to part with than the other. It's the nature of men that leads them to desire both."

"And which did you desire from me? My money or my maidenhood?"

_ One doesn't follow the other?_ Jack knew enough to keep from voicing that thought. There was no way to answer her question without alienating her. The query _"And what am I worth?"_ was as clear in her voice as her hurt. She was bewildered, and he could only guess why.

And there was less he could do comfort her aside from lowering his own defenses.

"Winnie… Why do you ask for answers you won't like?"

_So you'll hurt me enough to keep me from giving in to you. _"Because it's not outside the realm of possibility that I may, at some point in time, find you attractive, and…and should that become the case, I need to have some kind of barrier between us to remind me why that's a bad idea." Yet the thrill of triumph she felt at his use of the name she refused to like battled with her wariness.

Jack was stunned by what Winn was voluntarily telling him. "Why would your being attracted to me be a bad idea?"

"Because not only do you already have…an inflated opinion of yourself, but there's no future in it. A man's love of the sea is not easily displaced by anything else, and that leads him to hurt – however unintentionally – those who would love him." _I've watched it happen. _Winn's train of thought was slowly and surely deteriorating.

"Now Grandfather on the other hand is going to love you, Sparrow. You're going to fit right in. He may try to keep you in…his aviary. Or make you one of the family." Winn came awake enough to realize that she was talking when she'd rather be sleeping. With an indignant glare at the wall she waspishly complained, "Captain Sparrow, if you don't stop asking me questions, I'm never going to fall asleep and I'm…tired."

Amused at the bewildered outrage in her voice, Jack grinned, and said, "Just another moment of your time, luv. Then I'll leave you to your rather unneeded beauty sleep."

"Mmm…" She couldn't quite bring herself to tell him to stop calling her "luv." If he knew it bothered her, it would always be his first weapon against her and she was foolish enough to look past it.

"What changed between last night and this?"

"Ohh…" Winn paused for so long that Jack wondered if he would have to prod her for an answer. "I didn't like the way my brothers acted as if I scared them. Even if they were just pretending. I don't think I'm the woman they all see me as sometimes, but I've never done anything to disabuse them of the notion. It's easier to hide at times than it is to live. I did, you know. Hide. I thought that it was perhaps time to stop. Cat and Grace thought it was a good idea. Don't you think it's a good idea?"

"Yes, luv."

She felt defeated by his distance, so her next words were weary rather than a warning. "That means you won't give me trouble about it…correct?"

"If that's what you want."

"Thank you…" Winn's voice trailed off. When Jack heard no other sounds coming from across the wall, he decided that she had fallen asleep mid-reply. Content at the moment, even though he had no real reason to be, Jack set his hat over his eyes, and followed her example.

* * *

Winn awoke the next morning to find someone in her bed. As her consciousness rose up from the tranquil depths slumber, the sensation of another warm body pressed against hers became more and more apparent. _What…?_ she wondered groggily. Opening her eyes, she found she was facing the wall, unable to see who was behind her. The steady inhalations and exhalations of her bed partner continued in an unbroken tattoo against her spine. Winn sent up a brief prayer, hoping that she had not done something foolish last night, for she remembered being remarkably foolish in her dreams.

Carefully shelevered herself up, not wanting to wake her slumbering guest. Cautiously she placed her hands on the mattress and turned…there was Meggie in nightgown and slippers, a raggedy blanket clutched underneath her chin, just managing to stay on the narrow bunk with her aunt.

Winn smiled, unwarranted relief filling her. She should have known. Her brothers' children had long ago made a game out of slipping into bed at night. On any given night she could wake to find as many as five or six children in her bed. For that reason, Winn had learned to be a still sleeper, rarely changing positions in the night – oftimes that could result in crushing a niece or nephew.

Refusing to question why she thought it could have been someone else in bed with her (a rather larger and more dangerous someone else), Winn climbed over her niece. Pige scampered around her ankles, pent up energy making her more enthusiastic than ever. Resolving to find time to locate a good length of leather with which to make a collar and leash for her dog, Winn started getting ready for the day.

As she stood in the middle of her cramped cabin, a half-caught memory of speaking to her wall flashed through her head. And were that not ridiculous enough, she had an unsettling feeling that the wall had answered back in Jack Sparrow's voice. _We couldn't have possibly had a conversation through a plank wall…could we?_ She tried to recall what had been said by both parties, but most of it was too hazy. Dismissing it as a figment of an overset mind, Winn focused on preparing herself for the day ahead.

She was dressed and in the midst of brushing her hair when a knock sounded quietly on her door. Opening it, she found Grace outside. "Good morning Winn. Are Meg and Elsa here?"

Allowing the woman to enter, Winn stepped back and said, "Meggie is, but I haven't seen Elsa yet this morning. I suppose she might be asleep in the chest, but I doubt it."

Grace sighed. "I was hoping you weren't going to say that." She moved over to the bunk to pick up the still-sleeping Meg. "I hope that little urchin didn't go and manage to fall overboard."

"I doubt that the night crew would allow that to happen. Ry keeps them sharp. Those with a fondness for sleep find themselves out of work when they indulge at inconvenient times," Winn assured her sister-in-law. "Besides, Elsa may be small, but she'd make a loud enough splash, not to mention the squalling that would commence when she woke to find herself drenched. I'm sure she's around here somewhere."

Grace smiled. "You're right. I'll take this one off your hands before I go to track down Elsa."

Watching the delicate maneuvers required to pick up a sleeping child without waking them, Winn offered, "Why don't you stay with Meggie and Zoë. I'll find Elsa and bring her to you. That way we won't risk the other two wandering off." Grace accepted this offer with thanks. Then muttering something about children who wandered about in the middle of the night without informing their parents, she left.

Leaving her hair loose, Winn left her cabin. Standing outside the door, she surveyed the deck, thinking, _If I were a three-year-old girl, where would I be at this time in the morning if I weren't with me?_ She shot a glance at the door to her right. _I suppose it's possible she overshot her intended destination. But could she do such a thing without waking the Captain? _There was only one way to find out.

Knocking on the door to the Captain's quarters, Winn entered in search of her truant niece.

* * *

Jack Sparrow awoke sometime after dawn to the sensation of someone's head lying on his chest. Smirking, his hat still covering his eyes, Jack thought, _Looks like Winnie changed her views on the likelihood of us sharing a bed._

Raising his hat with one hand, Jack discovered what many other people have about he word "assume." _What the– What is going on?_

There, lying peacefully asleep was Elsa. Believing herself in her aunt's room, she'd had climbed right up and gone back to sleep.

As he was staring down at the child in consternation, he heard a knock on his door. Before he could give permission for the person to enter, the door swung open a few inches. He could see Winn peeking in. The faint look of apprehension in her eyes disappeared when she saw the picture child and pirate made.

Jack watched her eyes soften, found himself distracted by the soft smile that women seemed to naturally display when they saw a sleeping child. Her hair hung loose and was shining richly in the morning light, falling in a sleek waterfall to hang around her waist. _Strange that such a tiny woman would have so much hair._ He wanted to gather that dark mass in his hands and…

Gathering his composure – both from the shock of finding a child asleep in his bed and from the feeling Winn caused that he refused to identify – Jack said quietly, "I must admit that this wasn't what I had in mind when I decided I wanted a Morgan in my bed. I don't suppose you've come to switch spots with the lass?"

"No, I haven't." For once Winn didn't bristle at his proposition. "I'll take Elsa off your hands though." Her voice held more peace and serenity than Jack had yet heard from her. "I'm sorry if she surprised you, Captain."

"This happens often?"

"The women in my family are not known for sharing berths with strange men, no," Winn said dryly as she gently scooped her niece up. "However, if you wished to know if the young ones often seek out their adults in the middle of the night, the answer would be yes. I can only guess that Elsa mistook your cabin for mine in the dark and then didn't realize that you weren't one of her uncles." The girl in question shifted in Winn's arms, a sleeping protest against being moved from a spot she'd apparently found comfortable. Winn stroked the back of the child's head, soothing her. When she looked up she found Jack's eyes fixed on her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher.

His gaze unnerved her. Shuffling her feet she said, "I should return this one to her mother."

Backing towards the door, Winn stopped and bit her lip. She wanted to ask if they had indeed conversed through the wall the night before, but doing so would mean she would have to face up to what she had said. From what she thought she remembered, it would be best for both parties to ignore what had…what _might_ have happened. Still, it would be nice to know…

She opened her mouth to ask, but decided against it at the last moment. _No, it's better to just leave._ Shutting her mouth without saying a word, Winn left Jack lying on his bed, hands behind his head, grin firmly in place.

* * *

Winn worked to avoid Jack for the rest of the day for a number of reasons. She feared what might have happened the night before. She worried about what he might do because of it, was embarrassment that she could be mistaking a dream for fact, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to talk to him today without remembering the things she'd confessed…whether he'd heard them or not. But though she managed to avoid _talking_ to the man, she couldn't avoid his gaze, and many times during the course of the day she'd looked up from a task only to find him staring at her in the fashion of a man faced with a problem that confounded him.

She was greatly relieved when supper time came around. Jack's gaze was so focused that she'd felt as if someone's hand had been on the back of her neck all day. Even when she bustled from one end of the ship to another she'd felt his gaze on her.

Funny how there'd been times on the _Black Pearl _when she would have given anything to escape his presence, to avoid the way he took pleasure in being a general nuisance. But after spending so many hours under his scrutiny, her skin was fairly alive to the point where her own clothing felt out of place on her body and her mind wandered away from even the most mundane tasks.

The bell rang again, calling all off-duty hands to the evening meal. _I can eat later, but this may be the only time I get to be alone today. _There was no question in her mind that she would skip the meal. Quite aside from wanting to be out of Sparrow's line of sight, she didn't want to be trapped in a place where it'd be hard for _her_ to avoid seeing _him_.

_ "You think me a liar? Then let me accompany you until I grow bored."_ If the way he'd kept his distance from her meant anything, then she'd won their little bet.

_Oh yes, he never once took his eyes off you because he's bored. _

Winn rubbed at the back of her neck as she considered the irritating commentary her mind couldn't help but supply. _I'm going barmy. It's the only explanation for all this. Somehow Sparrow's insanity is spreading like a bad case of cabin fever._

Desperate for distraction, she retrieved her sketch pad and a piece of charcoal from one of the trunks in her cabin before making way for the prow. Reaching it, she looked guiltily about for her brother before climbing out onto the figurehead itself, making sure to settle herself securely between the carved figure's wings. Ry would skin her alive for daring the climb but it was a spot that few people would think to check for inhabitants. Solitude was more important to her at the moment than her brother's peace of mind.

Winn looked down at her blank page with pleasure. She had wanted to do this all day, but Jack's eyes on her had made her hesitate. She had drawn him once; she didn't want him to know that she was about to do it again. The scene from that morning called to her though. The contradiction between man and child, the vision of the big bad pirate staring down in dismay at the child who was snuggled up to him was too striking to ignore. _I'm only doing this because it's such a sweet depiction of Elsa. _

The work was finished quickly; Winn had a good memory for shapes and colors, one that rarely failed her. With nothing left to do, Winn stared out at the setting sun, listening to the conversation and quips traded among the men on duty. Her eyes slipped to half mast as she listened and her thoughts started to drift.

Intent on drawing, Winn hadn'tnoticed the man who had come up along the railing to watch her. When he saw that Winn was going nowhere anytime soon, Jack decided that this was as good a time as any to speak to her. After all, her family was below taking their evening meal, leaving her unguarded for the first time all day.

He gracefully dropped down beside her on the figurehead.

Unfortunately he wasn't quiet enough to escape her notice. Winn heard him land and quickly stood and assumed a defensive posture. _Enough is enough._ With her arms folded across her chest, she said, "Why Captain! Fancy running into you here. If I didn't know better, I would have said you'd been keeping an eye on me all day only so you could be sure to stay out of my path."

"Luv, you wound me–"

"We've been over this before, _Captain._ You aren't in near enough pain to have been wounded."

"You still can't find it in yourself to call me Jack? You did once, on the _Black Pearl_. And last night of course. You said it quite prettily then."

Winn had stopped listening at "after last night." Jack had confirmed her fears about what had happened last night after she had gone into her cabin. Her words from the night before came back to her in a rush.

_"Because it's not outside the realm of possibility that I may, at some point in time, find you attractive…there's no future in it. A man's love of the sea is not easily displaced by anything else, and that leads him to hurt – however unintentionally – those who would love him."_

Interrupting Jack, who had not yet noticed her sudden bout of immobility and speechlessness, Winn asked in a quiet voice, "I don't suppose you're willing to admit that you took advantage of me last night, are you Sparrow?" As she was talking, the first mate ordered that the sea anchor be dropped for the night. This order and the ensuing splash the obedience to it made could have very well drowned out the warning in Winn's voice.

But Jack had seen the warning in Winn's eyes even if he hadn't heard it in her voice. He knew that she was upset over the knowledge that she had spoken to him without being in control of herself. Her temper had been fraying slowly but surely all day long, and here he was trying to snap it. Briefly he wondered if he was indeed insane before he replied.

"How do you take advantage of someone who's not trying to hide anything?" He knew that she was most likely going to slap him for his impertinent answer, and he was prepared for it.

Sure enough, Winn's right hand came flying up to plant him one across the face. He grabbed her hand before it could make contact. What he wasn't prepared for was the foot that swept his out from under him and the other hand that gave him a helpful shove over the rim of the figurehead. Winn jerked herself out of his hold at the last moment. To her pleasure she watched as Jack landed in the water some feet below her as she herself hung over the edge of one carved wing.

"Man overboard!" Apparently their little scuffle had attracted an audience. Winn looked up to see several deckhands and the second mate gathered around. One of them looked down at her and commented, "You got him right proper, miss, right proper."

Winn sighed as Jack's head popped above water. _When am I going to learn to ignore that man and his incendiary comments? _

She climbed back on deck, her bare feet finding purchase in the hull as she climbed. Several hands reached out to help her. Accepting their help and thanking the givers, Winn walked to the main stairwell that would lead her down to ship's stores.

On her way down, she met Ry and the rest of her family coming up. "Off to get yourself some food? You missed dinner entirely." Ry looked at his sister with concern – she was getting too thin to satisfy him. If she wasn't careful she was going to make herself sick.

"No, I'm going down to stores to fetch some dry clothes."

"But you're not wet, Auntie."

His sister's smile was furtive as she replied to Meg's comment. "You're right. I'm not." Without offering further explanation, she continued down the stairs. Shaking his head at the mood his sister was in, Ry continued climbing with his family.

When they reached the deck, he saw why further explanations had not been offered. A dripping wet Captain Sparrow was being pulled over the railing back onto the deck. From his appearance, Ry would have to guess that he had taken a brief swim, and he didn't have to ask who had "encouraged" him to do so.

* * *

A sodden Jack Sparrow stood in the middle of his cabin, dripping on the wooden planking beneath his feet. _Now what?_ He supposed he could borrow some from young Captain Morgan, but was leery of doing so. It was a bad idea to collect debts on the sea; they were always called in eventually, and Jack was already entangled enough in this family.

_The first thing to do is get undressed._ A plan made, Jack removed his boots and vest. Before he had the chance to remove anything else, a knock came at the door. Opening it, he found Winn on the other side, a bundle of clothes under one arm.

"I brought you something to wear until your own clothes are dry."

Jack made a sweeping gesture with his arms. "By all means, luv, come in." Winn eyed him suspiciously, but came in anyway. He shut the door behind her and leaned against it, effectively blocking her way out. If she thought he was going to let her off easy after what she had just done, then she had another thing coming.

She tensed as he effectively closed them into a space that was possibly even smaller than her own cabin. Turning with the intension of demanding he open the door again, Winn found herself distracted by what Jack was and wasn't wearing. His drenched state wasn't an unfamiliar sight, but she'd been so tired after that storm that she hadn't really taken notice of him aside from his need to change into something warm and dry. Today she wasn't tired, and her mind catalogued his appearance in a way that was unfamiliar to her. Things like how he was barefoot and only about six inches taller than she was without his boots sparked new ideas. She realized that should she ever want to, she would fit snugly underneath his chin. The thought was more tempting than it should have been.

That wasn't all she noticed. His shirt looked much more threadbare when wet, and she could see the outline of several tattoos though it. There was one on each of his arms near the shoulder, and one on his chest near where his heart would be. The artistry of tattoos fascinated Winn. She forgot who she was dealing with as she stepped forward to see them more clearly.

"Like anything you see?"

Called back to her surroundings and her audience, Winn halted. Her face flamed. "No, I was just trying to decide if you had tattoos or merely concentrated areas of dirt. Knowing you, it's probably dirt."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest as he watched her struggle to compose her face into a mask of indifference. "You're off to a rough start if you've come to offer an apology. I think things would go ever so much better if you started talking about what I deserve again. I'm thinking a kiss for each hurt I've sustained at your hands would be an excellent way to begin." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Winn raised her chin in a haughty manner. "What you got was _exactly_ what you deserved." She held out the clothes she'd brought, temper making her words short. "However we can't have you falling sick while you're here as it would be a slight against Grandfather's hospitality. So if you would be so kind as to take these and then let me exit?"

Jack took the offered clothing and moved aside, but before Winn could leave he said, "I'm sorry if I've upset you, Winnie."

She felt his use of that nickname like a small blow to the chest. How _dare_ he try to use it to calm her after she'd made a fool of herself by asking him why he'd stopped. "Sorry? You're _sorry?_" Anger and disbelief were writ upon her face. "You've done nothing but test my patience since you brought me aboard the _Pearl_, Sparrow, and you've delighted in doing so. If there's been anything you've actually regretted it was most likely underestimating me enough to allow me a hit."

"That's not true, lass."

"Forgive me if I don't believe you, _Captain_." She turned her back to him, once more preparing to leave.

_Bugger_. The day was quickly stripping away any intimacy that might have been between them. Before she could storm away he quickly said, "I may not regret what I did last night, but I _do_ have regrets."

He surely knew where to aim to get her attention. Winn leaned her forehead against the closed door. "Fancy that: a pirate with a conscience. Pity you don't listen to it more often." Her voice was a whisper, albeit fierce enough to conceal the agony she felt.

Jack whispered back to her, "I regret whatever's made you doubt my intentions."

"Which _intention__s_ would those be? The one where you use me for my family's money or the one where you use me for my body?" Winn didn't know why she was still here. This man could unsettle her unlike any other. Her common sense was screaming at her to leave, yet something kept her in place. That same something rushed over her anger in a wave, leaving only confusion and a desire to stay in its wake.

"Did you emasculate him?" Jack asked suddenly.

"Pardon me?" Winn turned to face Jack, bewildered by his question. It was a mistake, for the darkness of Jack's eyes caught her own and held them.

"The man who convinced you your worth lay only in your money and body." She was softening towards him and Jack pressed his advantage almost ruthlessly.

"_You_ only value me for those reasons," Winn protested.

Jack gave her a look that informed her he thought her silly for thinking that. "I can tell you now that I haven't been watching you all day in an effort to gain either. You fascinate me. I'm not sure why."

This was a dangerous conversation. Winn felt the urge to save herself. She swallowed hard before replying, "All you're suffering from is a lack of occupation."

"Don't turn coward now, luv. You know the reason I haunt your steps is the same reason you're still here. We both want something. I know what it is that I want."

It was so very hard to leave. Winn watched as Jack came over to her, moving slowly as if he was afraid to startle her. Stopping a mere arm's length from her, he spoke in a voice that she almost felt rather than heard. "What is it _ye'd_ be wantin', Winnie?"

_I don't know how to answer that._ Winn reached out to touch him. She barely hesitated before resting one hand on Jack's shoulder. The other hand, her right hand, skimmed across the bruise it had caused. "I'm sorry," she breathed.

Jack rested his own hands on her considerably more delicate shoulders. He could feel how tense she was. Slowly he slid one hand around the back of her neck, the thumb grazing the skin of her jaw.

Winn's insides were in a knot of indecision. She wanted this, whatever it turned out to be, but was terrified of that same need. If she gave in to it, where would it lead? If she sought fulfillment yet was denied it, how would that leave her? Would she be free or devastated?

She wasn't ready to find out.

She didn't _want_ to find out. Not yet.

Jack leaned in to kiss her as he had wanted to for some time, but Winn turned her head away; his kiss landed on her cheek. "I can't."

It was difficult to refrain from grinding his teeth in frustration. "Why not?" Jack knew the answer but he wanted to hear her say it aloud.

"I'm scared." Shrugging out of his light grasp, she whispered, "I should go."

Jack _almost_ let her. Before she could open the door, he swooped down and gently captured her lips. Neither of them moved, though for Jack that was a simple matter of retaining control. He needed to prove to Winn that while he wanted her, it wasn't for his pleasure solely. He wanted her to have a reason to consider giving in to him.

Difficult though it was, he raised his head after only a few brief seconds and murmured, "What is it that you want, Winnie?" _All of this can be your choice… _

_ …to a point._

He had to get her out while he still could. Opening the door for her, he watched her leave. In a voice that was nearly too soft for her to hear, he asked, "_Who_ are you, Winnie?"

She paused, just over the threshold. Then, without turning, she closed the door after her. Safely on the other side of the door, Winn whispered, "I wish I could tell you."


	15. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:** Well, here's the next chapter. It took me forever to fine tune, and then I resisted putting it up because I really wanted to get started on the next chapter beforehand… However, school kinda made that impossible. Lots and lots of homework this term. I think that once a month may be as often as I'm able to update for this term at least. (I'm taking the massively difficult design course this term. Next term's design class shouldn't come with 10 hours of homework a week.)

Now that that's out of the way, enjoy this chapter. I had a wild time writing it. (I was accused twice this week of having an "evil" or "devious" laugh, and that's probably the laugh I was using at points in this chapter.) ;)

* * *

The gaudy colors of sunset were fading. As she stared out at the view, Winn's disordered mind wished that the heat in her cheeks would disappear as quickly as the sun had.

"Miss Morgan?"

She jumped and snapped her head around to see who'd addressed her. The terrible fear that her brother had caught her mooning about outside Sparrow's cabin had her cheeks flaring up with renewed color, but it was simply Ry's first mate.

_Oh, simply __the first mate who's going to inform his captain that I was mooning about outside Sparrow's cabin. That's much better._

"Are you well, Miss Morgan?"

_Stop staring at the man like an idiot and say something!_ "I'm uh…" Winn cleared her throat, her fingers catching at her collar which felt tight and awkward around her neck. "Yes, I mean…no? I'm not…" Sparrow's question rang in her head like the echoes of a bell. She wet her lips. "Please have Captain Sparrow's wet things taken to the galley to be dried." Winn escaped to her own cabin before she could offer an explanation for her behavior.

_Oh yes, this is a grand escape_she thought as she leaned against her door. It was hardly an improvement. She knew her slight weight wasn't enough to keep anyone… Sparrow…from following after her if he were determined. It was an effort in futility. She couldn't even keep herself from hearing him as he moved about next door. Nor could she ignore the way her lips tingled still, the slow flips of her heart, or her light head.

_Breathing would help._ She forced herself to take a deep breath. Encouraged by the way her head cleared, she eased away from the door to go sit on her bunk. _I suppose it's only appropriate to overreact considering the way I **under** reacted in Sparrow's cabin. I never considered myself a ninny. _**_Why_**_ did I just stand there like some witless goose while he kissed me? _

_ Because it was a very good kiss._ The part of Winn that was starting to sound like Jack made itself known again.

_ Hush, I wasn't asking you._ But Winn did have to admit that it had been a good kiss. She'd had to stop herself from leaning into the man, from responding the way her blood demanded her to.

_ Ridiculous. The only thing I had to refrain from doing was hitting him again._

_ Liar. _

Winn stripped off her tunic and shirt and threw them into the farthest corner in the cabin. The damp patches on her shoulders reminded her too strongly of Jack's hands, of how his thumbs had slowly stroked against her collarbones in an effort to calm her. And she didn't know what made her more irritable, being kissed or having the kiss stopped. _No, think about something else!_

An all too brief knock was all the warning she received before her door opened. With one hand Winn dragged the blanket from her bunk to cover her half-naked form and with the other she drew her dagger and pointed it at…

…her brother.

Neither sibling spoke. Ry eyed his sister, noticing how her knuckles were white with exertion. Winn's lips went thin and her outstretched arm trembled a bit, but she didn't offer to lower it. There'd been a spike of fear deep within her before she'd realized it was her brother and not Sparrow come to continue their conversation.

_Not fear, excitement. _

_Heaven help me, I like him. _

"I'm going to kill him."

Her brother's soft swear broke the silence but did nothing to disperse the tension in the air. "Ry…"

"I'm supposed to ignore how you leapt to protect your modesty with a knife?" he demanded. Let Winn growl; he'd noticed the way the pirate had been watching her. He'd been on the verge of deciding what to do about it when Sparrow's dripping form had convinced him that Winn was willing to take care of herself. Now he wasn't so certain and he bloody well was not about to let her be harassed while she was in his care.

Winn gritted her teeth. "I'm not eight anymore, Ryan! I don't care if you _are_ my brother. You can't just barge into my quarters with little more than a courtesy knock! I was changing!"

"You're ready to keelhaul me over that?"

"Don't tempt me." Winn sheathed her dagger and snarled, "Close the bloody door and turn your back if you're so concerned for the state of my modesty."

Ry hesitated, not really wanting to get into an argument with his sister, but decided that there wasn't a way to avoid this one. He closed the door and turned his back with exaggerated slowness.

She badly wanted to slap her brother, blamed that on Sparrow, and started digging through her belongings for her dressing gown. Once she was covered she said, "You can turn around if we're going to argue. The least we can do is stand face to face."

"I didn't come here to argue with you, Freddy." Unfortunately the stubborn set of her jaw had become a familiar sight over the last few months. Usually it made an appearance right after she quarreled with their grandfather. That she wore it now meant one thing.

His sister was spoiling for a fight she could win.

Ry set the squirming puppy in his arms on the floor to give himself a bit more time. Despite her challenge, he stayed squatted down to scratch the dog's rump. He wasn't sure he wanted to meet his sister's eyes. No matter how she handled his concern, it was a lose-lose situation for him. Yet this was one fight he couldn't afford to let pass unremarked. "I'm worried for you."

_Not nearly as worried as I am for myself. _Admitting so would hardly help her case however. It certainly wasn't something she could say to her eldest brother without Sparrow paying for it. For some reason it was important that he not pay for _her_ internal turmoil. "You're worried. Because I'm jumpy? Did it occur to you that I've had very little time to myself in the past few days –"

"Because of Sparrow."

"Because of my _family_," she shot back. _Not entirely false. _

_Not entirely true. _

Winn rubbed her brow and voiced at least part of what her brother wanted to hear. "Sparrow is a piece of the problem, yes. But he's not all of the problem and he's not one that can be solved with your or anyone else's fists."

Ry heard her out, though he wasn't yet ready to give up his brotherly right to pummel Sparrow. He wanted to hear more about what was bothering her before making a decision. "You said that was only _part_ of the problem."

Winn really didn't want to hurt her brother, but she couldn't see how she could avoid it if he kept pushing. "Ry, I love you all but this ship isn't _near_ big enough. The only time I don't feel closed in is when I'm out on deck. The rest of the time I'm very much aware of how much space there is in the room and how many people are occupying it. That's never done charming things for my personality."

"Freddy…"

She _hated_ that "I-know-there's-something-you're-not-telling-me" tone. She'd never been able to bottle her frustration when he used it. "Oh good lord, Ry. Are you going to be my guardian angel for the rest of my life? Frankly, I don't want one. I want a chance to figure out my life without worrying that my brothers are going to rush in and take the matter off my hands at the first sign of distress. If this is how you raise your children, I'm surprised any of them dared to grow more than a single tooth."

"That was uncalled for."

The chill in his voice transformed her anger into resignation. "You're right," she said softly. "But sometimes growth can be painful. There's nothing that can be done to protect a person against that pain except to trim their wings and keep them caged. And a cage, no matter how luxurious is still a cage."

He was silent for so long that Winn wasn't sure he was going to reply to her. When he did, she wished she'd kept her own mouth shut.

"This is why you've been so restless the past year or so, isn't it?" he said tonelessly.

Winn cursed the thrice-blasted walls. _Too late for pride. Sparrow's likely heard every word. A few more won't hurt and it's nothing I haven't alluded to anyway._

"Yes."

* * *

Ry hadn't been happy with her. He'd stared at her for a long minute after she'd admitted to feeling stifled by the good intentions of the family. When he'd left it'd been with a silent kind of anger. Her heart ached because of the confession she'd given but the chance to gently share her feelings had slipped away weeks before.

_At least __I can be sure that he's gone to Cat to share the news. She'll be able to ease his hurt. Though she'll likely hunt me down in the morning to hear all this firsthand. _

As she laid in the dark, Winn tried to compose the speech she'd be obligated to give her sister-in-law, but Sparrow's last words to her wouldn't leave her in peace.

_ "What is it that you want, Winnie? **Who** are you, Winnie?"_

"Leave me be," she whispered to the darkness. It didn't help. _I wish Grandmama was here. She's old enough not to get excited by all this change._ As sensible as Cat could be, she was still a very _mothering_ individual. At times Winn felt very young and foolish in her presence. Her grandmother on the other hand had a way of sitting and working on small chores in silence until there were no words left to be said. _And she doesn't offer advice unless it's asked for. Or there's tears being shed._ Winn felt a few silent chuckles rock her chest. No matter how confounded she was the moment, tears at least seemed unlikely.

_Certainly not as likely as more kisses._ She bit her bottom lip at the thought, unsure if she was excited or merely apprehensive. She could still remember the way her lips had tingled from his kiss,how he'd felt underneath her hands, the sight of his dark eyes…

_You're becoming__ dangerously infatuated with Sparrow._

_What's one more knot in the rope of my life? _

It wasn't an easy thing to do, turning over the rocks in one's soul. It took time and courage and patience. It was hard even to find a place to start. Winn glanced over when a small figure entered the cabin. Scooting over to make room for her niece, Winn thought, _Who am I? Well, I'm a loving aunt. I'm a sister. A dedicated granddaughter. I'm a sailor, and a gardener, and an artist. I'm stubborn, I fight to be practical, and I'd like to think that I'm steadfast. I have a good sense of humor, except when it comes to Jack._ That thought gave her pause.

_ Why not when it comes to Jack? What is it about him that makes me lose any sense of levity? Is it just because he irritates me? _She hugged Elsa close. _No, that's not it. Not quite. He makes me fear myself. He makes me afraid of what I find myself capable of in his company. He scares me because he makes me want things that I decided to deny myself long ago. _

The silence of the ship was absolute. It was like a silent observer to her thoughts, a friend who was waiting for her to come to her own conclusions.

_I suppose that's the problem, isn't it? Those wants and needs are a part of me. They never disappeared and now I can no longer identify them. So what **is** it that I want? _

Winn laid awake in the dark for some time. Her other two nieces had come in before she was ready to answer it.

_I want to be me. I want to be free to do what I want. I want to be free to admit what I want. I want to feel more feminine for all that I don't want to act like a perfect lady. I want to be held by someone who isn't part of my family. Someone who cares for me. I want to know more about Jack Sparrow._ She was very careful in that last. Wanting Jack Sparrow himself would be an easy way to cause herself senseless pain.

Settling more comfortably under her nest of children and puppy, Winn tried to shut down her mind. It took awhile. As she was finally drifting off, Winn had one last thought. _ I need to do something about my hair tomorrow. _

* * *

Grace stood outside Winn's cabin the next morning. She'd woken up alone in the cabin that she was _supposed_ to be sharing with her children. If Marcus had been there she might have enjoyed such novelty. As it was she thought it best to rescue her sister-in-law from her offspring.

Her knock went unanswered though, which meant that Winn was probably still asleep. If Winn was taking this opportunity to sleep in, Grace hated to wake her. The thing was, there was no way that she would be able to carry all her children off in one or even two trips. By the time the children were back in their rightful beds, Winn probably would have gotten up.

_I'll have to ask a deckhand to help me._ As she surveyed her immediate surroundings Grace saw Jack exit his cabin. The captain would be as good a person to help as any.

"Captain Sparrow! May I ask your assistance?"

Jack, always willing to hear out anyone who called him by his preferred title, came over. "What can help you with, Mrs. Morgan?"

"My daughters moved to Winn's cabin during the night. I'd like to bring them back to mine, but I'm afraid that making more than one trip will wake Winn, and she hasn't been getting much sleep lately." Her eyes looked him over slyly. "You wouldn't happen to know why that is, would you Captain?"

Jack didn't think was possible, but he actually blushed faintly. "I haven't the foggiest."

Grace just smiled conspiratorially. "Of course not. Anyway, would you help me cart the girls back to my cabin?"

The opportunity to see Winn asleep was too good to pass up, especially when he'd have a valid excuse for spying. "Lead the way."

Grace gave Jack a nod of thanks before opening the door to Winn's cabin.

Entering behind the mildly pregnant woman, Jack looked around. He'd been right to assume that Winn's cabin would be much the same size as his. In fact it looked identical to it if one discounted the pile of children on the bunk.

_Is Winn even there?_ he wondered. It certainly didn't appear so, but upon further examination, Jack decided that the mop of dark hair nearest the head of the bed was Winn.

Grace lifted the light sheet that was spread over the occupants of the bunk to reveal three children, a dog, and a woman, all fast asleep. Motioning for Jack to come closer, Grace picked up Meggie and handed her to the man. "I'm going to give you Zoë too, and then take Elsa myself. Is that alright?"

Jack nodded. While he was somewhat apprehensive of carrying an armful of children, he took the other girl. Glancing at Winn one last time before he followed Grace out of the room, Jack thought, _You'd better be worth this, Winnie. _

* * *

The children were relocated without much fuss, although Zoë did wake up and fret for a minute or two. Excusing himself from what he was sure was about to become a full-fledged fit of tears, Jack stepped outside.

The sky was grey with unshed rain. All the hands on deck were huddled under oilskin capes and diligently working to prepare for foul weather. Better yet, not a single member of Winn's family was hanging about. _This is __too good an opportunity to pass up,_he thought as he let himself back into Winn's cabin.

The light from the porthole was dull, but strong enough to drive back the shadows. A trunk shoved against the wall made a serviceable bench. Jack scooped up the book sitting atop it. _Is the lass ever far from this thing?_ He found himself thumbing through it as he studied Winn. She slept on her side, one hand pillowing a cheek, a slight smile on her face. A mass of loose blankets and the tip of a furry nose filled arms once occupied with children. It was almost strange to see the woman at rest; all his thoughts of her involved motion in some way, even if it was simply watching a battle take place in her eyes as she fought not to tell him exactly what she thought of him…

A sketch caught his eye, distracting him from his thoughts. _Was that there the last time I looked through this?_ Deciding that is hadn't, Jack turned back to the page. He was surprised to find himself looking at his own portrait. _Winnie, I didn't know you cared._

He turned the page and found himself the subject of the next drawing as well. _Now she's just exaggerating, _he thought as he looked at the expression of astonishment on his face as he watched a sleeping Elsa.

With difficulty he corralled his thoughts and started his own sketch. Drawing wasn't a pastime that he often indulged in. An artistic nature, beyond the ability to draw accurate maps, wasn't something that pirates admitted to. Jack had gone years without utilizing his talent beyond drunken sketches of a very sorry Barbossa, but it seemed natural to speak to Winn in a manner that she would understand. Jack only wished that he knew exactly what he was trying to say.

He sat for twenty or so minutes, drawing the sleeping woman. When he was finished, he laid the book where Winn would see it when she opened her eyes. He stood looking down at her for a moment. He'd forgotten what an inviting thing she was in her sleep when he'd offered her the chance the night before to chart their course. He was almost sorry for opening his mouth last night.

_No, it's best this way. Rushing her will only cause __her pain. _Knowing Winn, she wouldn't start fighting him until he could no longer stop himself. If anything were to happen, Winn would have to be the one to start it, no matter how badly he wanted to take her to his bed.

For the first time in years, Jack turned his back on temptation for the good of another. It wasn't something he could remember doing within recent memory, but he didn't regret it…not exactly. And if that was the worst thing he could say about the situation then he had no reason to complain. He shut the door after him, but not as quietly as he should have.

The slight click of the latch catching woke Winn from her sleep. Before she opened her eyes, she sensed that someone had been in her cabin. There was a faint trace of… something…in the air, a scent that soothed the normal morning crankiness she usually felt.

Opening her eyes, she spied the sketch, just as Jack had meant her to. _Oh Jack…_ When she tilted the sketch towards the grey morning light, she blushed. It was her, fast asleep. A man was also in the picture, his back was to the looker, but she could tell who it was from the hair. It was long and would have been considered messy if its owner had been any neater in appearance.

_Oh dear…_

* * *

Jack's mustache twitched in a brief show of dismay, though that had less to do with the not so quiet sound of Winn's door latching than it did with the two men waiting just outside it. The grim expressions on their faces convinced him that he wanted nothing to do with anything that might happen next. Unfortunately, he had nothing but his silver tongue to extract him from the situation. It would likely be enough, but he suddenly missed his sword and pistol.

He missed his weapons even more as Ry Morgan came up beside his men. _Well, in for a penny… _

"Bad news is it?" Jack blithely quipped as he attempted to side-step the trio. "I'll leave you to it then. Try not to break the lass's heart."

"It's not Winn's heart that's in danger of being broken, Sparrow. And if it is, then this talk is dangerously overdue." Ry stepped forward, though that didn't make the two men flanking him appear any less threatening. "Please, let's move this discussion to a location less likely to upset my sister."

Jack pretended to think about it. "That hardly sounds advantageous for me."

"Oh, I think you'll find it very _advantageous_ to go along with me on this." Ry's eyes were hard despite the easy way he returned Jack's protests. "Winn may have made you welcome, Sparrow, but you seem to have forgotten that you're on _my_ ship. I am less inclined to be forgiving than my sister."

"I'm not seeking forgiveness, lad." _An ally would be welcome however._ Jack was anything but at ease. The lazy grin pasted on his face was meant to keep that to himself.

All traces of patience and forged good humor left Ry's face. He hated the position he was in, trapped between Winn and his own expectations. His crew had reported seeing the pirate enter Winn's quarters. They would act if he didn't as it had just been the night before that Winn had taken decided offense to the man. It could hardly be countenanced that she would welcome him with open arms today. And even if she had, he still had his own issues with the fact that she had arms open for any man outside of her family. Especially a rogue like this one. "You were caught coming out of my_ sister's_ cabin, Sparrow. Explain to me why you're still breathing right now."

_Bugger._ _Well, that settles it. Winnie got the lion's share of the family temper._ As he had no other choice but to brazen things out, Jack leaned in as if sharing a secret. "I'm still breathin' because _your_ dear old granddad has expressed an interest in speaking with yours truly, so now is not the opportune time to be damagin' the merchandise, if you follow me. Also, there's the teensy, bothersome little detail that no matter what it is that I've done, dear Winnie has yet to ask for your assistance."

_-slam!- _

Jack's smile became triumphant. Yes, neither his back nor the back of his head were happy, but the aches didn't matter. What _did_ matter was that he'd automatically won their argument by pushing the other man to violence. "Careful, boy. I may be on your ship right now, but I'm still captain of the _Black Pearl_ and I won't be here forever."

Ry tightened his fists in Jack's clothes. "I'm going to –"

_-knock, knock, knock- _

Everyone was started into silence by the unexpected sound. Jack met the younger man's eyes as they both realized the significance of what had disturbed them.

_-knock, knock, knock…-_ More urgent now. The knocking didn't let up and Winn's voice leaked through the planks of the door.

"Are you two idiots going to give up your brawling long enough to let me out? It's getting a little close in here and if you make me wait much longer you'll both regret it. Do you hear me?" The knocking turned to pounding. "Ryan Christopher Morgan! Let Jack go so I can come out!" Winn's demands lapsed into a foreign language that Jack didn't need to understand to recognize as curses.

"Is she speaking Gaelic?"

Ry sighed like a man besieged. "Welsh," he replied as he let Jack go. "She thinks she sounds fiercer when she's speaking Welsh. And it has the added benefit of her being able to say anything she likes without anyone understanding a word. Her lessons haven't yet reached the point where Grandfather has stopped saying that she's slaughtering the language." Ry reached out to open the door. "However, as she's the only one willing to risk her teeth he doesn't complain loudly."

Winn came storming out. She switched languages once again, this time choosing Italian to berate… Well, Jack wasn't sure who her anger was aimed at, though from her brother's placating tone and the way she jabbed both him and Ry in the chest, he had a good idea.

The argument went on for some time, ending only when Ry made an angry motion towards the deckhands. Winn became silent but stared at the men until they all returned to her tasks. "I apologize," she ground out, clearly choking on her brother's position as captain. Both Jack and Ry snorted, then glanced at each other in surprise. Neither had been certain they'd ever agree on anything.

Winn glared at them both. "Men," she muttered under her breath as she pushed past them and went below decks, presumably to find something that wouldn't complain when she took a chuck out of its hide.

"This isn't finished, Sparrow," Ry warned as he stared after his sister.

Jack absently rubbed at the spot on his chest that still ached from her angry jab. "Are you sure about that?"

* * *

Winn knocked on the door to her brother's cabin defiantly. She didn't care whether her brother was in or not. The morning's grey promise of rain had panned out and the drizzle-filled air felt too thick to comfortably breathe. She'd tugged the hood of her cloak closer about her face and raised her hand to knock again when Cat came to the door, looking pale and wan.

"Rough day?" Winn asked. It was selfish of her, but she was glad to have someone else's problems to worry over.

"No more than any."

"Oh." The silence was awkward as each Winn tried to weigh how much Cat knew about recent events. Probably too much for her to expect to escape an interrogation. _I don't think I can face that right now._ "I'm sorry. I should probably go…" Winn trailed off. She didn't want to be alone with her thoughts anymore than she wanted to explain them. And there was also the matter of getting her hair cut. Cat was the only person she trusted on the ship to come near her with a pair of scissors.

Cat read the uncertainty and indecision on her sister-in-law's face. It was rare that Winn let anyone see such qualities in herself, so Cat was intrigued. She also understood a thing or two about the problems of others and the distraction they afforded. "Please, come in. A bit of company and something to do will help me feel better."

"If you're sure…?"

"Of course I am. Now come in out of the rain." Cat stood back as Winn complied with her demand. "Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

_Have you spoken to your husband yet today?_ No, the direct course was hardly the one to take. Winn's gaze shot around the room, ensuring they were alone. Even if she wasn't going to share her heart's secret desires, she didn't want anyone overhearing her request either. "Umm…you know how you've been after me for years to take better care of my hair?" Cat nodded. "You were right. The ends are always tangled and the weight of it hurts my head sometimes when its all bound up. I've never wanted to take the time to deal with it but now its taking more time than I want to surrender just to make it presentable…" Winn stopped when she saw that Cat was staring at her. "Sorry. I'll stop rambling now."

After several moments of silence, Cat picked up the conversation as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. "I've never quite understood why you were against cutting your hair. It's so vibrantly dark and thick. Styling it could only make it look better. Give me your cloak." She hung the damp garment from a nearby hook and started prowling around Winn, looking at her from all angles as if trying to decide where to start cutting.

"It's coarse and confused," Winn protested.

"So are you at times." That Winn was here was enough to tell Cat that more was wanted than a simple haircut but for once she wasn't about to press for details. Ry had already shared with her his sister's feelings of being overshadowed by her family and Cat had no desire to be snapped at. As hard as it might be, she was determined to let Winn come to matters in her own time. "What did you have in mind?"

Winn thought about that for a moment. "You mean, other than cutting off the scraggly ends?"

Cat stared at her for a moment before taking hold of her chin. "Do you trust me?" She waited for the younger woman's nod before she started tilting Winn's head this way and that. In a distracted and thoughtful voice she said, "Hmm…chin length…perhaps a bit of fringe… That may work for you."

Winn felt as if she were trying to understand a foreign language. "What may work for me?"

Letting her go, Cat pulled forward two small sections of hair to either side of Winn's face. "You need a little something to soften your face."

"It'll be in my eyes all the time if you cut it that short. And what's wrong with my face?"

"Well, you do have the Morgan nose, dear."

Winn fingered the offensive feature. Her nose might be long, but it was narrow and unlike her grandfather's, the tip was reddened only by exposure to the sun. "I like my nose." She knew Cat was teasing, but her mind was already unsettled and concerned about her appearance.

"Freddy?"

"Hmm?" Winn blinked several times and tried to remember what Cat had just said. "Softer face or not, I really don't want my hair in my face." There was a difference between using hair as a shield and looking like a sheepdog.

"We can give you a softer hairstyle without cutting off an inch but that's not quite what I asked." Cat's manner became maternal as she tucked the hair she was holding behind Winn's ears. "Is this what you want to do?"

"I think I _need_ to do this, Cat. I'm not sure why, but I do. It's an inconvenient time to start caring about my appearance, I know, but –"

"You don't need to explain. I understand." Cat remembered a few times in her life when small decisions had meant the difference between sanity and madness. "Now strip down to your chemise. This is going to get hair all over the place."

Winn did as she was told. As she was taking off her shirt, Cat went to the door and directed one of the deckhands to fetch a large piece of canvas for her. He returned momentarily with it.

Placing the canvas on the floor, Cat turned a chair out from the table. "Have a seat and we'll get started. Just let me grab my scissors…"

Winn remained quiet for a long time. The silence in the room was broken only by the creaking of timbers and the strengthening sound of rain. Cat didn't bother to speak when Winn moved; she simply grabbed her chin or her hair and pulled her head back where it belonged. However, the need to ask the foremost question on her mind proved to be too strong for Winn to ignore forever.

"Cat?" she asked in a quiet voice, "What has Ry told you?"

"He mentioned that the two of you were fighting. Again. And he's concerned about the frequency of your fights."

"He said that?"

"He didn't need to."

"I don't mean to worry him," Winn mumbled.

"With Jack Sparrow aboard, there's little you could do that _wouldn't_ worry him." Cat quietly cut hair for a few moments. "Ry said you pulled a knife on him last night and seemed reluctant to lower it."

"I was surprised," Winn reluctantly admitted. "He wasn't who I'd expected."

"You were waiting for someone?"

"I said _expected_, not _anticipated_. There's a difference." Winn winced. Her non-answer didn't help matters any. "I didn't want company but part of me must have been expecting some. I don't think I would have reacted as quickly as I did. Or the way I did."

_Mmm… _"And this morning when Sparrow snuck into your cabin? Was that expected or anticipated?"

Winn laughed, though the discussion seemed absurd rather than humorous. "You're joking, right? You don't honestly think I would welcome being despoiled on my brother's ship on our way to my grandparent's plantation."

Cat very well knew that there were types of intimacy that were even more devastating than a hasty bedding. If Winn was yet unaware of them, that was reassuring. On the other hand however… "That you're even using the word 'despoiled' would send Ry into fits."

Winn raked her teeth over her lip. "Sparrow is rather…persuasive," she said softly.

"_That_ worries _me_, Freddy."

"I don't mean it that way, for heaven's sake. Nothing's _happened_." Winn hoped she didn't sound as if she were complaining. "It's just…I don't think that _he_ ever thinks of anything else. All our conversations seem to come back to it. In a way I should be glad. By not hiding his intent he's given me fair warning…"

"…but he's also given you like thoughts."

"Not thoughts. More…wonderings."

"Well, that's natural enough."

"Is it?"

Cat took all of Winn's questions seriously. She knew about the past of her husband's family, and she felt sorry for this young woman who had so nearly managed to cut herself off from her own feelings. Pondering her question now, Cat wondered how much of this had to do with natural curiosity. No matter how much Winn tried to hide it, it was obvious that her thoughts were burdened by the pirate.

"Yes. But Sparrow is hardly the kind of man you should allow to help you seek the answers you want."

"Give me some credit, Cat." Winn was glad that Cat couldn't see the expression on her face. "I've always known that Sparrow is a man good for naught but kisses." _Why does that hurt a little? _"But I haven't even concerned myself with kisses for years. I've never felt…ready…even if there'd been men willing to show the inclination to indulge me."

"What about Alex?"

Winn thought about her best friend back on the island. "Alex definitely never showed an inclination. I'm not exactly his type."

Cat knew what her sister-in-law was implying. _Oh, heaven help us. The girl is completely blind._ If Winn had ever given the slightest encouragement… "If you say so."

Winn waited for Cat to offer some advice rather than opinions. Normally she wouldn't have to ask but Cat was being unusually reticent. "When…how did you know that you loved Ryan?" None of what she was feeling made sense and if she hadn't been so confused she would have waited to speak to her grandmother. But she knew that Cat _loved_ Ry. If she couldn't define what she felt, she could at least determine what she didn't.

Cat considered her answer. If Winn were falling in love… _There'd be no stopping her if she were in love with Sparrow._ For that reason, Cat chose her words _very_ carefully. "I'm not sure about how to answer that. I can't tell you the exact moment that interest turned to fascination, or when fascination turned into a need to be with Ry. Or when that turned into love.

"No two people fall in love the same way. The best guidance I can give is that when love does appear, or becomes evident, you'll know. You might not know that love is what you're feeling, but you will know that all of a sudden you can't remember what life was like before you felt the way you do. And if you do remember, you won't want to go back to your life before."

It wasn't the straightforward answer Winn had been hoping for. She'dwanted some kind of standard to judge her behavior by. Apparently, things weren't going to be so easy. "Well, can I at least trust that love doesn't feel like panic?"

"Panic as in a speeding heart?"

Winn laughed and was shocked at how breathless she sounded. "As in being stuck in a too-small room." Her voice was too high.

Cat relaxed her shoulders and worked to quickly finish Winn's hair. "No, I don't think anyone would describe love in that manner."

"Oh." _G__ood._

"Did you imagine yourself in love?"

"Once. It wasn't a recent fancy though, so don't go running to my brother. I think we've fought enough for one day."

"You realize you can't say that and then not share the rest of the story."

"There is no story."

"Freddy…"

"Really, there's no story. He was the harbormaster's son, and I was fourteen, and he had no idea I was even alive…"


	16. Chapter 15

**Author's Note:** OMg! I'm so sorry! Typography and masses of babysitting has eaten up all my spare time. Well, that and I inconveniently sprouted a new fandom almost immediately after posting the last chapter of ADS. But by my clock it's still February, so I'm still getting my chapter up this month rather than next.

This chapter really got hit hard in the editing department. Let me know what you all think.

* * *

Winn sighed as she fumbled to light the lamp hanging from the ceiling. It had rained steadily all day, and as a favor to Grace she'd helped entertain the children story after story for hours. Finally it had been time for the evening meal and she'd gratefully made her escape. Though she was hungry, she was tired and a headache was starting to make itself known behind her eyes. A few minutes of peace in her cabin before descending to the galley would be welcome.

The steel and flint felt awkward in her hand but she was eventually able to light the stubborn wick. After dutifully hanging her cloak to dry, Winn turned to her mirror. She had a brief impression of strained eyes before a sharp knock at her door distracted her. It flew open before she could even open her mouth to tell her visitor to go away.

Jack, wet, rain dripping off his battered hat, stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. He hung his hat and coat on top of Winn's things as if they – and he – belonged there. "Where have you been? I didn't know anyone could make herself so scarce on a ship of this size."

_Ry is going to __kill me…right after he kills Jack._ Winn rested her head against the glass of the mirror. It was so calm, so cool, so unlike the man behind her. She wasn't big enough or strong enough to toss him out on his ear, and ignoring him wouldn't be enough to make him leave.

"Why are you here? Don't tell me you wouldn't have survived the five extra steps to your _own_ cabin."

Jack drew back his head as if surprised by the rebuke, his eyes widening in mock innocence. "Of course not, luv. That's ridiculous…" Jack trailed off as he noticed Winn's hair. Or more precisely, her lack of hair.

"What's this?" Winn-with-long-hair was a small woman almost overpowered by the thick mass…a mass that he'd wanted to see spread across his pillow. Or her pillow for that matter. He wasn't picky. Now it was just barely long enough to brush her shoulders. He'd be upset if it weren't also loose, which was an intimacy of another kind. The sight inspired a new set of fantasies, ones that featured _Winn_ rather than a seductress with Winn's face. He found there was room in those dreams for a woman who carried a sword she couldn't use and used Welsh she couldn't speak.

Like the _Pearl_ with her leaks and barnacle-encrusted hull, Winn was unusual and not obviously valuable to anyone seeking perfection.

But then Captain Jack Sparrow had lived his life in the pursuit of the unconventional.

Well, that and personal gain.

"C'mere, me beauty."

Winn rolled her eyes and instantly regretted it as she felt a stabbing pain in her head. The headache that had been threatening had hit.

"Sparrow, you've never struck me as a stupid man, but not even I will be able to stop my brother from tossing you overboard for good after this. I for one will welcome the quiet."

She had yet to turn and face him. Her hair was pulled to the side, exposing her neck. Both skin and hair looked silky, inviting his greedy fingers to steal a caress. "I can be quiet." He whispered the statement to prove his point as he approached her.

Winn raised her head, tracking him in the mirror. "Are you telling me," she asked in the slow voice of one trying to understand a particularly complicated conundrum, "that you want to stay here?"

"If that's want ye want." She kept looking at him, consideration in her eyes. When he was within arm's reach he asked, "Why did you cut your hair, Winnie?"

Smug git. He needn't make it sound as if her decision had had anything to do with him. "I wanted to."

"And what is you'd be wantin' now?"

When Jack simply stood behind her without reaching for her she turned to face him. It was the same question as the night before. Finding the answer to it would take longer than a single day, but in the meantime…

…would kisses really be so bad?

Jack's eyes heated as he watched Winn reach out to him. Her fingertips were warm on his skin as she traced the loose collar of his shirt. He responded in kind by reaching out to stroke her jaw. He grinned when she sighed as if finding herself defeated but not particularly upset about it.

His arrogance should have rubbed her the wrong way but for once it left her quietly amused. The man was a complete reprobate. "I want you to stay…for awhile… Until you upset me." Stepping into him she whispered to his chest, "But I have a headache, so don't get any ideas."

"Making excuses already, just like a woman." Jack wrapped an arm around her waist as he began to rub her tense shoulders. With her so close it was only natural to try to steal a kiss, but she turned her face away from him.

"Don't you ever think of anything else?" Winn made to pull out of Jack's light embrace but he stopped her.

"Nay, if this is what you want, then I'm willing to settle for that…for a price of course."

"Of course. The price had better not be too steep, Captain, otherwise you'll find yourself out in the rain."

"I just want an answer to a few questions."

"Questions. You and your _questions_. After all that's happened between us I don't know why you expect me to give you any answers." When Jack made no move to push her into intimacies she wasn't prepared for, Winn relaxed a fraction until he moved the hand at her shoulder up to the back of her head. She tensed again, unsure of his intentions.

"Relax, Winnie. I still haven't heard a request to be bitten. You're safe." _For now. _ Jack started to massage Winn's scalp with surprisingly talented fingers.

_He must not have been out long. His clothes are dry. _Winn resisted the urge to press her face into his chest. That her head rested on his shoulder was bad enough. "Hmm… what is it that you want to know?"

"How is it that you didn't know anything of your grandfather before you came out here?" He felt her flinch, but didn't withdraw the question.

"I suppose Father thought it was better for us not to know. The Captain wasn't the most popular man near the end of his career. Though he defeated the charges of piracy that were brought against him, he'd stepped on the toes of too many men who were in power. And that's just in England. There's still a rather large price on Grandfather's head in several different countries. Spain in particular has a valid grudge and not all men are scrupulous enough to leave the innocent unharmed in a quest for riches or vengeance. Power and crime go just as well together as poverty and crime. Besides, he lived half a world away. He didn't have much to do with our lives."

"But your father taught you about pirates and sailing and navigating. Didn't you ever ask why?"

"No." She considered what she wanted to say and decided her words wouldn't reveal too much. "The only time he spent with me – _just_ with me – was when he had a lesson to teach. Can we sit down? My feet are starting to hurt."

Jack eyed the trunk that served as a bench. It wouldn't serve as a perch for two and he was certain she'd resist any effort he made to keep her in his lap. "Sure, lass."

Winn pulled loose from Jack and moved over to her bunk. She sat down on it, feet curled under her, back to the wall that connected their two cabins. She cocked an eyebrow at him, a silent enquiry into whether he was going to join her or not.

While Jack may have developed a case of scruples when it came to Winn, he was by no means respectable, a gentleman, or any combination of the two – not that being a combination of the two really would have mattered. What was the woman thinking to invite him to join her in bed…in her bed? Even if it _was_ only to have a seat? This, above anything else she had done or said, proved to Jack that Winn had no experience with men whatsoever. _It's time she learned._

Sauntering over to her bedside, Jack stared down at the woman who was continuing to watch him with expectation on her face. "I find it odd that an intelligent woman would be so naïve as to invite a man into her bed, especially a man who has made it clear that he wouldn't mind ensuring she didn't leave said piece of furniture until dawn was nothing more than a memory." Leaning down, Jack placed a hand on the wall to either side of Winn's head, restricting her freedom of movement.

She swallowed and looked up at him with large but unreadable eyes. "You –"

Bringing his head closer to hers, he said, "Don't be a goose. I'm more than capable of taking what I want, even when it's foolishly offered. I may not have ravished you while you were on my ship, or when we were alone in the forest…or the brig where no one would have heard us, but you _are_ tempting me, luv," Jack growled. "There's only so much a man can take. You keep offering yourself, no matter how innocently, and you will find yourself on your back." And with that, Jack darted forward to capture her mouth with his.

This kiss was different than the others they had shared. The others had been brief, spur of the moment, full of impulse and a hint of passion; this one was full of warning.

Winn tried to hold herself apart from Jack, but failed miserably. Before he had even started to kiss her, she had felt the force of his personality crowding her. It warned her of her inexperience when it came to men. But this kiss… As he slanted his lips across hers she wasn't sure whether she wanted it to stop, or if she wanted it to never end. It was a dangerous position to be in, and she started to squirm.

Her halfhearted struggles – though distracting – didn't budge Jack or even convince him that she truly wanted him to stop. He simply removed one of his hands from the wall and buried it in her newly shorn tresses to hold her still. He felt her surprise and her eventual taming. When she was calmer he pulled back enough to allow them to catch their breath. Winn was silent, her face flushed, her eyes wide in her thin face. His glance slipped down to lips starting to swell from his attentions. Deciding he had nothing left to lose, Jack returned to the kiss.

Winn saw him coming that second time, but she did nothing to avoid him. She was too stunned. Too caught up in the warmth of him, and the feel of him, and the warmth and emotions she felt inside of herself because of him. She –

She listened to what her muddled mind was saying and it shocked her out of her complacency.

The sharp sound she made in the back of her throat was the first true protest she'd made, and Jack reluctantly ended the kiss. "Savvy?"

"Savvy," came the whispered reply. If she had been a ship he was attacking, he would have decided that she was ready to be boarded and taken. Unfortunately, this was one surrender that he could not yet afford to accept.

Winn noticed just how dark Jack's eyes were. _Well, they're normally dark anyway, but now they're near black._ She shuddered when she wondered just how much darker they might get.

It was that shudder that spurred Jack into action. Releasing her, he said, "I think we've answered enough questions for tonight." Without another word he went to the door, and after collecting his things, he left before he lost what control was left to him.

Winn sat motionless on her bunk, uncertain whether it was good or bad that he was gone.

* * *

The storm of the day before had moved on. The sun shone brightly on the deck and crew of the _Kingfisher _as Winn stepped out her cabin. After her encounter with Jack, she'd stayed locked up in her cabin. She'd been afraid that the first person to cross her path would look at her and see everything she'd been doing…and everything she'd been wondering about.

"Winn, could I speak with you for a moment?"

_Ry. It would be **Ry.**_ Winn sighed and made a promise to herself that she wasn't going to fight with her brother today. It didn't matter what problems there were between them; her behavior the day before had been inexcusable.

Besides, by sundown tomorrow they'd be at Swallows Rest. Once there she was likely going to clash with her grandfather over Sparrow. It'd help if she didn't have to fight her brother as well.

"Missed you at dinner last night," Ry said carefully as Winn reached him. He left the wheel to his first mate and pulled her off to the side of the deck to keep their conversation private.

He released her and she shifted, leaning her weight against the rail. "I wasn't hungry."

"When was the last time you ate three meals in a day?"

"I don't remember." At least this, while not her favorite discussion, was familiar. "I've been feeling…anxious…recently." The biggest cause of that anxiety strolled out of his cabin. After a glance in her direction he went below decks, presumably to the galley.

"Freddy."

"Mmm?"

"_Fred_dy."

Winn pulled her gaze and her mind away from temptation. "Yes?" She wondered what it was about her tone of voice that had his hackles up. "I'm thinking about doing something potentially stupid."

"That's out of the ordinary?" Caution tinged with amusement. "Winn, are you being careful?"

So, he'd understood that Sparrow would likely be part of her stupidity. And he had yet to throw their "guest" in the brig. Perhaps he hadn't become as impossible as she thought.

"I'm sorry I've been so difficult," she murmured as she looked out to sea. "Will you be glad to finally hand me and Sparrow over to Grandfather?"

"Sparrow? Definitely. You? You're not as easy to manage as a mere pirate."

Winn's lips quirked as she thought about the shouting matches she was going to have with the family patriarch. It wouldn't simply be a dressing down for how she'd been insubordinate to Ry – who _would_ give a fully accounting of Jack's "capture" as well as their voyage. She'd also be scolded for finding herself shanghaied in the first place.

"I can hear him now," she muttered. "'I taught you better than that. What do you mean you didn't fight back? When will you get over your missishness and finally use that blade as I taught you?'" Oh, he'd be fueled by concern and relief, but Winn truly wished she could skip that part of what was sure to be a lengthy interview.

"He's truly said that you're missish?"

"Mmm…"

Brother and sister stood in companionable silence until Ry asked, "Is there a reason you brought that up?"

Winn took several quick, deep breaths before turning to face her brother. "Do you think I'm timid, Ry?"

He stared at her for a moment before his shoulders started quivering. His face became a little _too_ straight…and then he was laughing out loud.

_Brothers…_ As she waited for the belly laughs to cease Winn crossed her arms and tapped her foot. It had been an honest question, and difficult to ask. When he didn't calm, she began to feel…hurt.

It must have showed. Ry's laughter slowly tapered off. He studied her face intently. "You're serious."

"I _was_." Her hands tightened around the rail and twisted.

"Well… Timid's not the first word that comes mind, no," Ry said. "Why?"

"I'm not sure I always express myself…adequately."

"God deliver us," Ry said under his breath. "If volume is any indication –"

"Your flattery turns my head," Winn said dryly. Clearly Ry was the wrong person to talk about this with. "I think I'm going to get some breakfast now."

Her brother didn't fall for her distraction for a moment. Or rather, he did, and caught on to its implications too quickly for her taste. "You're going –"

"I'm go to get something to eat. After not eating last night, I'm hungry." _At least he can't argue with that, not when he's the one that brought up my eating habits._

"Winn…"

She instinctively bristled at "the patient voice," but forced herself to give him a chance. Perhaps he wouldn't start issuing orders. "You asked if I'm being careful. What could be more careful that spending the morning in a common room?" _Since no one seems to find it difficult to intrude on my privacy._

"I don't like him, Winn. I don't trust him."

Ry's voice was so sincere that Winn had to respond in a like manner. "You're an older brother. You're not supposed to. Besides, half the time I don't either."

"And the other half of the time?"

"I'm charmed, but realistic," Winn said over her shoulder as she walked away. She knew her brother wasn't reassured, but there was nothing she could say that he'd find comforting.

* * *

"Still speaking to me?"

Winn looked up at the man standing beside her table and wondered why she wasn't furious with him. Just a month ago she would have had the spleen of any man who tried to teach her a lesson the way he had last night. _But it was more a warning than a lesson. _

As usual, Jack had given her much food for thought after their last encounter. And as usual, she didn't know what to think about hew own responses, much less his.

" I'm not sure."

When she'd entered the small galley, Jack had been the first person she'd seen. He'd been the _only_ person in the room besides Edward the cook. Too unsettled to join him, she'd taken her light meal to a far corner. Edward had ventured out of his domain as she'd been finishing, saving her a trip to scrounge for more food. His hot turnovers were just about her favorite meal, and she hadn't noticed her company – or the two coffee cups he left behind – until the big man was gone.

Shaking her head, she realized that Jack had been talking to her. "I'm sorry. My mind wandered there for a moment. Please, have a seat."

Jack looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "You? Let your mind wander? Did it go anywhere interesting?"

Winn flushed. There was no way that she was going to explain where her thoughts had been running. "Not particularly."

Jack took a sip of his coffee and gazed at her. He thought that she might have lost a bit of weight since they had crossed paths, but it could have only been the new haircut and the way that it framed her face, made her eyes more prominent. There were faint smudges underneath those eyes, indicating that she hadn't been sleeping well lately. Instead of her normal garb, she was wearing a simple burgundy dress made of summer-weight wool. "I was wondering just what to expect when we land tomorrow. I dislike being at a disadvantage, and only a fool would fail to discover what he can about an unknown situation. I may be called many things, fool bein' among them, but I rarely fail to disprove those who label me that."

Winn looked up from doctoring her coffee to find Jack's eyes on her. Glancing down briefly she said, "I suppose the best place to start is where we're going, and how it was founded.

"Grandfather's ties to this area are numerous. He won the respect of pirates, mercenaries, and politicians alike. But after returning from England that last time, he was ready to retire from public life. However, he'd also grown accustomed to a certain type of…boisterous company. So rather than retire to some quiet plantation where the days would all blend together, he found a small island away from most trading routes to found a settlement on."

"An admirable goal." _How boring._

Winn looked at Jack from under her eyelashes, a wry smile playing on her lips. "Osprey Point will never reach Tortuga's level of decadence and depravity, but it's no Port Royal either. What you'll find there is a small community of retired pirates… mercenaries…run-away slaves, sailors too old to go to sea… There's fishermen, craftsmen, smugglers. The people live off what they make, and catch, and grow as well as what their seafaring relations send home.

"At least that's how things are now. Twenty years ago things were considerably rougher. However, with the men came families, and with families came responsibilities and gossip, and word spread that the Point was a good place to disappear to if one's life became too…lively."

"Sounds dangerous."

"I am talking about a place where mercenaries make up the militia. Those who threaten the peace find themselves quieted by fair means or foul."

"And where does your grandfather factor in to all this?"

"He started financing ships for promising young pirates and smugglers. That's how he lives now, off the income from those investments. If it weren't for that he'd have gone broke decades ago." She thought about the ledgers her grandmother made her labor over. How she'd _hated_ that chore when she'd first been given it. However, Isabella Morgan was a strong believer in women being capable of managing every part of their household. After years of keeping track of household expenses, Winn had learned to appreciate those columns of numbers. The process of working through them was almost soothing work…

Lost in memory, she was surprised when she felt a calloused hand close over the hand she had wrapped around her mug.

"Where'd ye go, lassie?" Jack thickened his accent, trying to make the wistful smile on Winn's face disappear. It worked. She smiled and studied the contents of her cup.

"I'm sorry. My mind is wandering horribly today. I must have not have slept as well as I thought I had."

"As long as the journey is a pleasant one, I don't see why you should be sorry."

Winn shrugged. "I'm just not used to forgetting my surroundings."

"It happens to the best of us."

"If you know about such things, then it must happen to the worst of us too." There was no sting behind the comment, but instead a teasing warmth that surprised Jack. Was Winnie flirting?

"So this grandfather of yours just lives on this island doing nothing but counting his money and arguing with his wife, if she's anything like you that is. That sounds like a rather good reason to grow old."

"Grandmama doesn't argue." _She doesn't need to._ "She was raised as a proper daughter of nobility."

"That doesn't seem to stop Elizabeth."

"Like I said, Grandmama was raised as a _proper_ daughter of nobility."

"How'd she end up married to Morgan then? He kidnap her?"

"Yes." The simple way Winn answered hinted at a much longer explanation, but Jack was strangely reluctant to hear it. There was a hint of bloodthirsty approval in her eyes; whatever the matriarch of the family had done in response to being kidnapped, he was sure he didn't want to know.

"Your grandfather sounds like an interestin' person."

"Interesting is a good word to use. He loves birds. He's completely obsessed with them."

"I think I've noticed. The _Kestrel_, the _Kingfisher_, Osprey Point."

"That's nothing. Not only did he name his estate 'Swallows Rest,' but he built an aviary last year. It's an enormous thing built of glass and silk netting. He must have nearly a hundred different species of bird living there now. The most peculiar one being a flamingo named 'Marty.'"

"Why is that so peculiar?"

"You know how I have a dog?" Jack nodded. "Yes, well, while we're visiting, just consider Marty a dog. It lives inside the house and follows Grandfather around. It drives the maids mad because they're forever cleaning up after it. Especially during molting season." Winn looked at Jack with a secretive smile on her face. "We'll just pray that Marty likes you, otherwise we may have some difficulty."

Jack wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. "What kind of difficulty?"

Winn laughed, a free sound that made Jack want to kiss her. (A lot about Winn made Jack want to kiss her.) "You'll find out soon enough, should the unthinkable happen and Marty find your company undesirable."

"How about you tell me now, or I'll torture you until I get the information?" Jack leaned over the table, Winn leaning forward herself to meet him halfway. Before anything but their breath could meet however, Winn felt a tugging on her sleeve. Looking down she saw her nieces there, all with very serious looks on their faces. She tried to suppress a grin at their grave earnestness and at the soft curse that escaped Jack's lips. Kicking him gently under the table, punishment for cursing around the children, Winn asked her nieces, "To what do I owe the pleasure ladies?"

"Auntie Winn? Are you married?" Elsa's question left both Winn and Jack speechless.

Jack recovered first. "Well, now that you ask –"

Winn's kick under the table was harder this time. "_No_. We're not. Why do you ask, sweetie?"

"You're spending a lot of time with _him_. Mommy only spends a lot of time with Daddy." Elsa eyed Jack with disfavor. None of the girls wanted their aunt to lose time for them. Even if it did mean another uncle to tell them stories and to give them rides.

Winn chuckled. "Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about, sweets. I'm just answering some of Captain Sparrow's questions."

"Then why did it look like you were about to kiss 'im?" Meggie entered the fray, her mother's curiosity shining through.

"Uhh…" Winn looked at Jack and found that he was watching her expectantly. There'd be no help from that quarter. Not that she wanted any. _His_ help would only leave her with more to explain…and that was _before_ the children scampered off to report to their parents. "Captain Sparrow was having a hard time hearing me over the fuss you were making in the kitchen, so I was trying to make it easier for him to hear me." Before anyone could voice another question, Winn went on the offensive. "Now, what are you three doing out here? I thought you were helping Edward prepare lunch."

"So that be where those urchins escaped to." Edward, the cook, emerged from the kitchen. He was a tall, barrel-chested black man who looked as if he should be working in a smithy somewhere, instead of in the galley of a ship. "I was thinkin' I had an awful large amount of room to set my feet. I thought you girls were goin' to help me pull the taffy for after diner."

The two older girls went screaming into the kitchen, arguing about who was going to get to help first. Zoë, however, decided that her aunt's arms were looking empty.

"Up." Winn smiled and lifted the child into her lap. Looking back at her companion, somewhat relieved that the girls had interrupted the earlier scene, Winn asked, "Where were we?"

Jack eyed little Zoë with a certain measure of resentment. "I believe you had just warned me about your grandfather's foul tempered fowl." Deciding that the previous mood had been irrevocably broken, Jack asked his next question.

"So Winnie, what do you think your dear grandfather has summoned me for? And don't tell me it's for a raid on one of ships. I can't believe that none of them have been raided before."

Winn sighed, allowing Zoë to play with her hands. "Don't pretend to ignorance, Jack. You know the real reason you're here is because you kidnapped _me_, not because of whatever you scavenged from the _Kestrel._ Well, and the fact you took the birds. That may come up."

"You think the birds are as valuable to your grandfather as you?"

Winn wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, missing the way Jack watched her. "No." _He simply understands them better. They're content to depend on him._

"So, you lied to me then."

Her eyes snapped up. "I never!"

"I distinctly remember you promising that your honor and my lack of it wouldn't be a cause for drawing swords."

"How drunk were you?" Winn couldn't very well admit that her own memory of that night was a little fuzzy, but there was one thing she was sure of. "You asked if some lovesick fool would come after you, rattling his saber. If you'd bothered to ask about my _family_ I could have told you that they wouldn't take my kidnapping laying down. In fact, I _did_ say that, the day we met."

"Ah, yes, the old, 'You'll rue the day' speech. Luv, if I had a pence for every time I'd heard that –"

"You'd be a rich man. I'm sure you're right."

"Doggy!"

The two adults paused; Winn broke eye contact first and looked about for Pige. The puppy still hadn't gained her sea-legs, yet still managed to navigate about the ship on her own. She handed Zoë a cold turnover and set her on the floor. The toddler happily started feeding the dog.

"She's gained a slave for life," she remarked offhandedly as she watched the pair.

"A feat females seem unnaturally adept at."

"Not what I meant."

"But true." Jack watched Winn's cheeks flush. "So, what kind of torture is being devised for the unworthy soul who dared touch the Morgan daughter?"

He made it sound so melodramatic, but Winn wasn't sure he was far from the truth. The Morgan temper being what it was, she couldn't be certain of what was waiting for them. "He's never done something like this that I know of," she whispered. "It may very well be that he simply wants to meet the man who sailed off with his granddaughter. It could be that he wants to meet the infamous pirate who happens to share a last name with a variety of bird. I can't even begin to fathom what he'll do now that his first wave of anger has passed." Things done in the heat of temper could never be as cruel as those done with forethought.

Jack studied her silently, as if trying to divine if she was hiding the truth from him. It seemed unlikely. While Winn did keep her secrets, she was usually trustworthy when it came to answering direct questions. Sighing, Jack commented more to himself than to Winn, "I guess we'll both find out tomorrow."


	17. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** I do not deserve to be forgiven. Really. Especially since I can't promise the next chapter will be more prompt. The next four weeks pretty much determine if I make it into the second year of my program, and that's way more important to me than this.

However, as the next chapter is unlikely to be nothing but me backpedaling to make certain I correct many mistakes at once, perhaps it won't take so darn long to write.

Let me know what you think of this chapter. It took so long to write that I can't help but feel that there's something wrong with it, but I'm probably being too sensitive.

* * *

They were rounding the point.

Winn's hands convulsed around the railing. With the winds so fair, they would reach Swallow's Rest in time for tea. Her palms squeaked against the varnished wood as her grip tightened.

Heaven help her, but what was she going to do about Sparrow? She'd thought that she would enjoy having him at her mercy. Maybe she would. But it was her grandfather's mercy he was going to be thrown on, not hers. _And Grandfather's reputation is rightfully earned._

"The code of the brethren," she muttered under her breath. Her grandfather wasn't only capable of great bravery and ruthlessness – she knew more about Portobelo than he'd guess – but he'd honestly thought he could install a code of conduct in lawless men. Based on that alone, she knew his plans for Sparrow could at the very least be described as troubling. It was _his_ principles that he'd be judging the pirate by. Jack could only come up short in the comparison.

And where did that leave her? What could she possibly expect herself to do?

"Nervous?"

That rough, softly-slurred voice licked at her temper like no other. "As would you be if you had any sense," Winn snapped.

"I don't need to be nervous. I have you."

"You do not _have_ me. You're barely even capable of maintaining my sympathy for your plight." She turned, intending to continue her tirade, but…

"What happened to your face?" Winn covered her mouth is a kind of astonished horror as she took stock of the changes before her. She'd misread his voice badly. "Oh my goodness." Jack was glowering – there was no other word for it. "Let me guess – Cat insisted." Winn didn't even mention what had been insisted upon, afraid that saying the words would just set him off.

"Bloody female. Couldn't keep her blasted scissors to herself. 'But you look disreputable.' Never mind that I'm a bloody pirate and therefore _am_ disreputable. No..." Jack started mumbling things that made Winn widen her eyes.

She kicked him in the ankle to gain his attention. "I think I must protest your using such language where the children might overhear." When Jack glared at her, she raised her eyebrows, pretending to be unimpressed. "Besides, you can't be telling me that 'Captain' Jack Sparrow is bellyaching over…over a little trim."

"A little trim!" Jack yelled, losing his composure. "The bloody woman cut off my beard!"

"Just the braids."

Her eyes twinkled in the face of his outrage. The sight of Jack standing in front of her with all the overset dignity of a bearded lion swept away her own worries.

"You don't feel an ounce of pity for me, do you?" Winn just shook her head. After a few moments Jack himself began to grin, albeit a wry grin at the situation and not necessarily at Winn's response to his complaint. "Okay, luv, you've made your point."

Looking out at the passing coastline, she tucked her amusement away until she could look at Jack with a straight face.

"So. She insisted."

"Aye. She insisted. And I hope I never have to see her 'insist' upon anything else in my life."

_You'll be leaving soon, so I don't think that'll be difficult to manage._

Jack watched as Winn grew still again. Her profile was smooth, unblemished by emotion. This was a woman he recognized, though he wasn't glad to meet her again. Winn wasn't meant to look like that.

"Care to tell ole' Jack why you look so pensive?"

Winn's hands returned to the rail. "I don't know what you mean."

He reached out and brushed his fingertips against her temple. "At your age, thoughts of wrinkles –"

Winn knocked his hand away. "Your gift for flattery is astounding. It's a shame you find it necessary to waste it on me."

"I don't see it as a waste."

His hand curled around her fist and raised it to his mouth. The look in his eyes chilled her – he looked patient…amused… Tender. _That's how Grandfather looks at Grandmama when he's trying to humor her out of a pet._

"Don't!" she hissed as she struggled to regain her hand. "You can't look at me like that, Jack."

"Why not?"

"It's…" _It's too bloody intimate, that's what it is._ "It's improper."

"Surely you can do better than that, luv."

"And stop calling me that. You don't love me!"

"Freddy? Is there a problem?"

Winn glanced over her shoulder. Ry, Cat, _and_ Grace were all descending on them. They probably had some notion that she needed to be rescued, and Winn didn't like that they could read her distress so well. Sparrow was hers!

_To deal with. He's mine to __**deal with**_ Her possessiveness made no sense.

"The problem is men who think women can be humored out of their better judgment." Winn struggled to maintain her composure. The concerned glances her family exchanged didn't help her. "You may all stop worrying about my virtue," she ground out. "If I'd wanted to, I would have bedded Sparrow on the _Pearl_ and been done with it."

Shocked silence. Well, from everyone apart from the one person who mattered.

"I don't think we would have been done as easily as that."

"You go too far, Sparrow," Ry growled before Winn had a chance to protest herself.

Irritated with both men, she sniped, "Pay him no mind, Ry. I certainly don't. Sparrow's just pouting because Cat forced him to appear halfway civilized."

_Pouting?_ Jack rubbed his chest as if pained. Winn knew how to get right to the heart of a man's ego when she was riled.

"Winifred –"

"Please, Ry. I really can't cope with this right now. We're almost to Grandfather's. You should be focused on your crew, not the babblings of a drunken fool. This won't even be your mess to resolve in the end."

"It won't be yours either."

Winn dragged her teeth over her lip. "I know." Yet she couldn't help but feel responsible for Sparrow. _Which is exactly what he intended all along._ She shot the pirate a sour look. The scoundrel was clearly unrepentant. He didn't even seem to be listening as he studied the shoreline and played with his chin. His profile was much more captivating without the distraction of his ornamented braids.

_Oh, Freddy… What have you gotten yourself into?_

Winn didn't notice her family melt away as she struggled to place things into perspective. She was _not_ responsible for Sparrow, and she owed him _nothing_. That he expected her to stand at his side and help release him from the mess of trouble he'd landed himself in should tell her everything about his character that she needed to know.

…but then his warm, rough palm settled over her hand. Her grip relaxed as her body instinctively responded to the small comfort he offered. She only had to glance at him to know he did so thoughtlessly. They were next to each other at the rail and that was enough reason for him to touch her.

Why did he have to tease her with things she'd never have? That caring tolerance that provided a counterpoint to her temper, that voice that said "love" but hinted at things outside her experience? It hurt to realize he didn't want any part of her but her influence with her family. Certainly, he took what she foolishly offered him, but he hadn't sought more either.

"More" would be saved for women without complications.

Winn pulled her hand away from him, ignoring his curious glance. The day before rested heavily on her. A peace existed between them that made it hard for her to be angry with him even though her heart was bruised. She'd always known that Sparrow likely had a list of lovers longer than she was tall. It shouldn't matter. He wasn't the kind of man she was seeking. He was too complicated. When she bound her life to another, it would be to a man who would let her passion – in all its forms – rest.

Life was too hard to accept anything more.

All that stood between her and her goal to be free of the pirate was her grandfather and whatever plans he harbored.

* * *

Winn eyed the approaching beach. There was but a small welcoming party waiting for their merry band. Whereas the entire family usually turned out to welcome its errant members home, now there was only a scant handful of grim-faced men.

She knew that the house above the beach would be full of faces pressed against the windows. No one would want to miss Henry Morgan's reaction to the man who'd so disrupted the peace of his family.

_I wonder if they had the sense to hide the spy glasses from the children._ Winn deliberately looked for any strange glints of sunlight from the roof of the house. She was almost twitching with the need to throw nervous glances at Jack. Keeping her mind and eyes occupied was the only way she could control herself. She knew that any glances she gave Jack would be deliberately misinterpreted.

The occupants of the long boat shook as the keel scraped against the sand of the beach. Winn had no time to be amused at how uncomfortable her brother Richard looked as he stood behind their grandfather, no time to wonder how Marcus had arrived before them. She didn't even have time to wish that Cat or Grace had been allowed to come ashore as well before Ry scooped her up so she wouldn't wet her skirts. She fought to keep from scowling at him for the courtesy; she'd worn the dress to please her grandfather and she didn't want wet fabric clinging to her legs as she attempted to politely defy him.

_This is not going to go well._ That thought was only enforced as her slippers filled with sand as soon as Ry set her down. Grimacing, she kicked the dratted things off, unaware of how Jack – who was sensible enough to remain at the back of their small party – smirked at the sight of her small feet.

"Freddy…" Ry hissed as he led her forward.

"Don't sound so despairing, Ry," she mumbled. "No one expects any better of me." A wry smile appeared on her face; her grandfather's stern blue eyes were rolling and Richard winked at her. "See?"

Aware that there was little she could do that would be unexpected of her, Winn halted several feet in front of the family patriarch. Ryan grumbled as he took his place at their grandfather's side, leaving her to stand on her own. "Grandfather…" Winn swept her skirts out and sank into a deep curtsey, maintaining the pose as she watched the old man deliberate. The sign of respect was flattering but her skirts formed a feminine shield before Jack who was a step behind her.

Everything she wanted to say was expressed, and everyone on the beach knew it. Respectful disagreement. A silent request for leniency. A subtle warning of defiance.

_Thank God Elizabeth can't see me now. After all the trouble I gave her about standing up for Sparrow she'd never let me live this down._

"Bugger it, girl. Stand up."

Winn rose slowly, thankful for the waves that covered the sound of her creaking knees. She studied the elder Morgan, taking note that her display hadn't softened him at all; he was characteristically impatient. Fortunately, she still had weapons in her arsenal.

"Hello, Grandfather," she cajoled as she came forward and kissed his cheek. "Satisfied that I'm all of a piece?"

"You're up to something." Morgan's bushy eyebrows lowered threateningly as he looked past his granddaughter.

"You make it sound as if I'm hiding my intentions." Winn stepped back to place herself more obviously in front of Jack. "I'd say both sides are sailing under colors."

"I won't stand for your interference in this matter, Winifred. Go up to the house."

"This matter intimately –" _Bad choice of words._ " – involves me. I think my opinion is as valid as any other. Certainly it should carry more weight than any formed on hearsay."

"Go to the house, Winnie."

He wasn't even willing to debate with her. Winn stepped up her attack, determined to have Morgan focused on her. Completely on her. "I'm not a child to be sent to her room while her problems are resolved for her!"

"_You_ were not supposed to come ashore! This is a matter for men."

"_Men,_" she said disparagingly, "are the reason this is an issue at all."

"That man besmirched your honor."

"My honor or your pride?"

Grandfather and granddaughter glared at each other, mirror images of the same temper. Morgan was the one to break the silence, going after Sparrow rather than his pigheaded granddaughter. "Who here is the one hiding behind a woman's skirts?"

_There's my cue. _Jack met Morgan's eyes squarely and shrugged. "Face facts, mate. Any situation involving a lady's skirts can't be all bad."

Winn closed her eyes and ground her teeth. _Apparently, __**I'm**__ the only one hiding behind skirts._ "Sparrow, I thought I told you to let me do the talking."

"You also told me no one called you Winnie."

The glare Winn gave the pirate could have started a fire. Morgan was bemused to see that Sparrow just looked back at her with a lazy, crooked grin. If the pirate had made off with his shrewish granddaughter – and that at least seemed undeniable – then he'd withstood the experience well. Morgan waited for Winn to make use of her sharp tongue, but she seemed to calm as she stared at Sparrow. She seemed irritated, but Winn had always been irritable.

"So this is the man I've heard so much about."

"Aye, Captain Morgan. I'm Jack Sparrow." Winn relaxed when Jack failed to insert his preferred title. Whether it was out of respect or cautious fear, it was the right move. _Grandfather doesn't call anyone 'Captain' unless he feels they've earned the honor._ Considering the reason for the summons, Winn doubted that Jack would receive that courtesy any time soon.

"Well, what's to be done with him, girl?"

It was something of a shock to look up and find herself the center of Grandfather's attention. Standing up straight, she carefully wiped all emotion from her face. "What do you mean?" Winn asked, certain that she'd misheard. "After all that you went through to get Sparrow here, you're going to allow _me_ to decide what's to be done with him?"

"A good captain listens to the opinions of his officers."

"I'm hardly officer material," Winn replied dryly. She was still waiting for some indication that her grandfather's question had been an idle one.

Her brothers shared glances while her grandfather snorted. "Nonetheless, you have more than enough opinions to share. Why so reluctant now?"

"I'm afraid you'll do the opposite of what I ask."

This time Jack was the one to snort. Again Morgan took the time to examine the pirate. He was clean for his kind and quite confident though he was outnumbered and unarmed. More than that, he had a wry look on his face, as if he knew first hand how much Winn hated to be thwarted. Considering the way he'd made her acquaintance, he probably did.

"I'll take your words under advisement," Morgan said slowly, his eyes still weighing Sparrow. "Now, speak your piece."

"I want you to let Jack go."

_Jack_. Morgan wasn't surprised. When Marcus had arrived, he'd shared all he'd known of the situation. "That's quite a boon you ask of me."

"You wanted to hear what I had to say."

She sounded unsure…distracted.

Morgan sighed as childish screams sounded from the path leading to the beach. His dear wife had apparently determined that he'd had time enough to intimidate Sparrow. Isabella hadn't been happy with his decision to restrict her to the house. If not for their other guests, she likely would have joined his party – orders or no.

"Ryan, you might as well return to the _Kingfisher_ to retrieve the women."

"I'll go," Marcus volunteered. "After all," he told his brother as he slipped away, "my children are there and yours are here."

"You should take Sparrow with you," Winn called after him. She was certain the pirate didn't want to be part of the horde that was quickly bearing down on them. More importantly, she didn't _want_ him there. He didn't belong in the same setting as children, and hearth and home.

"Oh no," Ry said, though his mind was clearly on the group of children running pell-mell down the beach. "I won't have that man left unsupervised on my ship."

"What is it you think he's going to do? Steal it on his own?"

"He's capable of it, from what I'm told," Morgan said, interrupting his bickering grandchildren.

"What do you mean, from what you're told? Who would say such a thing?"

"Lass." Jack poked Winn in the shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me that Will and Elizabeth were going to be here?" he asked quietly.

"What?" Winn scanned the group of adults that were following at a more sedate pace behind the children. She identified her grandmother, and Richard's wife Sarah. The man and woman she'd first taken as servants from the house though were indeed her friends.

"I knew nothing about this. I would have told you if I had." She sent a questioning look to her Grandfather.

"They know Sparrow," was all he said. It was all he had time to say before the group of children reached them. For several long minutes all the adults but Jack were busy hugging, tossing, and greeting children. Not that Jack escaped the melee entirely – he got his share of confused hugs from some of the younger children. One tot in particular seemed unusually devoted to trying to separate his arm from his shoulder until Winn scooped the lad up.

"Enough." The single word was spoken with the tone of a man accustomed to making himself heard over the elements. Miraculously, every single child, from the eldest to the youngest toddler, heard and obeyed the command.

Morgan observed Winn and Sparrow standing side by side, Winn with a child balanced on her hip. Sparrow's presence brought about some interesting dilemmas, but it also brought opportunity to influence his stubborn grandchild.

"I make you welcome to my home, Sparrow."

* * *

Jack sidled away from the happy family as Winn left his side. She seemed very much a part of the group as she greeted a woman who could only be her grandmother. Winn lingered in the other woman's embrace, seemingly soaking up the strength to stand on her own again. The moment she pulled away, a young woman slide into place at Winn's side. Jack was amused to see that of the three women, Winn was the shortest.

"Jack Sparrow." Elizabeth couldn't help the smug amusement in her voice. After all the messes the pirate had caused for others, there was something satisfying in seeing him ensnared in a mess of his own making.

"Captain, lass."

"You seem to be missing your ship again, Captain."

Jack glanced at Elizabeth, noting that she stood arm in arm with her blacksmith fiancé. _Waste of a pretty girl,_ he thought idly. No matter how happy they appeared, he couldn't help but wonder. Happiness was elusive. Certainly another person was an unlikely thing to pin happiness to.

Yet his eyes were drawn back to the woman who'd occupied his thoughts since he'd met her.

"Jack, what are you –? Oh." Elizabeth's eyebrows rose as she figured out what the pirate was looking at. "I see."

"Will, have you ever considered keeping Miss Swann indoors? The sun seems to scramble her wits quite easily." Reluctantly Jack turned away from his view of Winn.

"Jack." Will reached out with the arm that wasn't wrapped around Elizabeth's waist. "You're looking almost respectable."

"Appearances are deceiving," Winn drawled as she came up behind Jack.

"You would know best," Jack muttered.

Winn fought not to roll her eyes and ignored Will and Elizabeth's interest in their exchanged. What interested _her_ was what the pair was doing at her grandfather's house. Her grandmother had been unaccountably sly when questioned. There was something going on, something more than her grandfather wanting to interview everyone who'd ever had anything to do with Sparrow.

"I don't want to sound unwelcoming because it is good to see you again so soon, but what are you doing here? And without a proper chaperone."

"We've barely been here a full day, Winn," Elizabeth laughed. "Besides, your family has been with us every moment since we arrived. Wouldn't you consider that sufficient chaperonage?"

"I would," Jack said under his breath.

"How interesting." Winn glared at him. "I was just about to say the opposite." She turned her attention back to the couple. "Knowing my family, they've likely encouraged any notions you have."

"You know your family well," Will agreed. He looked both pleased and chagrined.

"What's gotten into your head now, Elizabeth?" Winn demanded. She was certain that whatever her friend had planned would not go over well with Governor Swann. And she knew who Governor Swann was going to hold accountable for whatever scheme Elizabeth had up her sleeve, never mind that _no one_ was ever able to stop Elizabeth once she'd set her mind to something.

_Perhaps it won't be so bad after all._

She was just about to relax when Elizabeth asked, "What are you doing this evening, Winn?"

"You're being coy," Winn said flatly. "Should I be scared?"

Will pulled his arm back from around Elizabeth's waist and motioned Jack away from the women with a jerk of his head. "This isn't going to be pretty," he said under his breath.

Once they were a safe distance away, Jack asked, "What could the lass possibly say that would rouse Winn's tem– "

"_Elope!_ Are you _mad?_"

* * *

"When your father hears of this, he'll forbid you to ever speak to me again," Winn predicted grimly as maids readied she and Elizabeth for the coming ceremony.

"You're full of doom and gloom today," Elizabeth observed. She'd hoped that her friend's trip would have sweetened her a bit; certainly having Jack Sparrow under her thumb couldn't have been so awful. After her reaction on the beach, Winn's grandmother had taken her aside. Whatever had been said had been enough to keep Winn from mutinying, but she still didn't look happy.

"Is that all you're worried about?" Elizabeth asked as she carefully took a seat. "Let me assure you, once I'm a married woman, Father will have no say over my conduct."

_And people accuse __**me **__of being stubborn._ "Miss Swann or Mrs. Turner, fathers _always_ have a say over conduct."

"Winn?"

She knew what Elizabeth wanted to say. "I have Grandfather. He expresses his views of my conduct often…and at great volume." She brushed aside the maid's fussing hands and stepped forward to assist with Elizabeth's hair. "And while we're discussing _that_ topic –"

"You're the one with so much to say, not I."

"No, you've got too many stars in yours eyes to see anything but a way to attain what you want. Thanks to your decision, _I_ however see many, many lectures in my future on the matters of marriage and a woman's duty to her family."

"If you care naught for love, then why not marry and start your own household?" With nothing better to do, Elizabeth was watching Winn in the mirror. She almost laughed at how taken aback Winn looked – until Winn tugged harder on her hair than was necessary.

"What I care naught for is being forced into a decision I don't want to make."

"Then you _are_ waiting for something more than mere affection for the man who'll share your life. And your bed."

"Elizabeth Swann!"

It was much too easy to shock Winn. "Why not enjoy yourself while begetting heirs? If the number of children in this house means anything, the rest of your family certainly seems to."

"We are _not_ having this discussion," Winn declared over the titters of the maids.

"Then you won't mind telling me what's going on between you and Jack. And don't tell me 'nothing.' I was there when you were flirting with him on the beach."

This time Winn's jaw literally dropped. "I did no such thing!"

"The house has an excellent view of the beach. You put on a pretty show, standing there between Jack and your grandfather's wrath."

Winn hadn't thought she could flush any brighter, but her cheeks were positively aflame. "I have experience dealing with Grandfather. There was nothing more to it than that."

"Don't even try to act innocent! I know what I saw! You placed yourself between Jack and what you perceived as a threat to him."

"Sparrow is a threat to himself," Winn muttered. "I didn't want him to make the situation worse."

"Mmm…" Elizabeth studied her friend. Winn wouldn't meet her eyes in the mirror. "You know what I think?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"I think you realized Jack isn't the villain you cast him as. I think you realized that it _is_ possible for a person to be a good man and a good pirate, and I think that for the first time you're finding yourself fascinated by someone you don't entirely approve of. And you don't know what to do about it."

"Can you excuse us?" Winn quietly asked the maids. She should have known that Elizabeth would push to have this conversation. It was the one she'd been avoiding in Port Royal.

When they were alone, Winn picked up a card of hairpins and started twisting Elizabeth's hair into a semblance of order. Her hands must have been as unruly as her thoughts, for Elizabeth reached up and stopped her.

"First of all," Winn said in a quiet voice, "good pirates terrify people and good men put others first. Neither description fits Sparrow. He's nothing more than a man, and a womanizing one at that, who does all he can to make his life easier."

"If he were just a man, you wouldn't have defended him today, Winn."

"_You_ defended him. You still do. What does that mean?"

Winn's hands were clammy; Elizabeth found herself chafing them. "I've loved Will since I first laid eyes on him. Hopeless love is nothing new to me. If not for Will… perhaps Jack would have been more of a temptation."

"You? And Jack?" Winn was astonished, and not just at Elizabeth's confession. Her own instant jealousy and sense of possessiveness shocked her as well. "One of you would kill the other inside a week."

"But what a week it would be."

Winn just stared at Elizabeth for a moment. Dear lord, she was supposed to be distancing herself from Sparrow, not wondering if such a week would actually be worthwhile. "You _do_ need to be married."

"Yes." Elizabeth's smile was giddy and brilliant. "But as much as I anticipate that, I can't wait for Jack Sparrow to meet his match."

"I just hope I'm there to see it." Winn said the words, but she couldn't make herself mean them. Not when she was thinking that she and Sparrow had already survived more than a week together.

"So do I," Elizabeth said, her eyes on Winn. "So do I."

v v v v

Jack was flirting with the serving maids.

Winn was not taking it well.

Isabella Morgan sat at the foot of the table. At the head of the table sat her husband. She loved the man dearly, but he was arrogant. She'd noticed it the moment he'd boarded her father's ship all those years ago and demanded they surrender their goods. Over the years that trait had both charmed and infuriated her, and caused more than one fiery argument between them. Now he sat celebrating the marriage of a couple he barely knew...and who by morning he'd be responsible for bringing together.

At least in his version of events.

Isabella sipped a glass of wine as she watched her family. Winifred's friends were happily lost in each other. It wouldn't be long now before the others would hurry them on their way to the wedding night they'd spend in the Rest's guest house. Soon after that happened, the family would leave the table, her grandchildren dispersing to put children to bed and to continue celebrations in private.

She was worried about Winn. Winn who normally claimed to love her solitude but who was already looking a little forlorn under the influence of the mead she was drinking.

Since she was watching so closely, Isabella saw the exact moment Winn decided to do something reckless. Sparrow – bless his soul, he was only a man – sent a liquid glance to one of the more foolish girls who were helping to serve the meal. Winn caught him at it; knew immediately, as any woman would, what the pirate was inviting. Her eyes flashed, her chin went up, and she quite deliberately set her glass down. She was on the verge pf standing when Isabella pushed her chair back and rose to her feet. All eyes were drawn to her and she graciously smiled.

"Please, don't mind me. There are things I must see taken care of before our company retires." Equal laughter from the men and women…except for Winn who could barely seem to control herself. Her throat was working as if swallowing angry words. "Winn, if you would please join me?"

Winn shoved herself away from the table and stalked out of the room. Isabella caught her husband's eye and shared her own silent disapproval before following more sedately in her granddaughter's wake.

She found Winn on the back balcony, her new pet bouncing around her feet. Her breath came deep and loud in the still night.

"I hate this."

Isabella took Winn's arm and led her into the gardens, away from the house. The night breeze was pleasant and scented with flowers. She said nothing, knowing Winn had little patience left. Either her story would come spilling out or she'd regain her control.

"He's so bloody…blatant," Winn hissed.

"Who?"

"Jack. Grandfather. Take your pick." Winn was quiet only for the time it took to draw enough breath to continue. "I shouldn't have worried. Those two will get along just fine. Grandfather can't stop dropping hints about how pleased he is to finally host a wedding, and Jack won't stop dropping hints about how pleased he'd be to share his bed tonight!"

"You're upset with him."

"No. Yes. I don't know." Winn scowled at the path. "I feel as if everyone…as if everyone has a _place_ tonight. Someone to be close to. And those two _men_ keep making it painfully obvious that I don't." Her voice and temper were dropping with every word. "Is it so wrong to crave a pair of arms to hold me while I sleep?"

"Of course it isn't, dear one."

Winn snorted, once again irritated. "Jack isn't looking for a dear one. All he needs is a few minutes and a warm body. The swine."

Isabella knew they were getting close to the heart of what was eating at Winn. "And you want to be the warm body?"

Winn's laugh was scornful. "He could never be so fortunate. And he knows it. All the way here he was…"

"He was?"

"He made me think he wanted _me_. Not my connections, or my money – though I'm sure he wouldn't turn it down! – but _me_. Winn. He was always underfoot, always pressing to know more about me, about what I thought, what I felt." The women came to a stop and sat down on a wide stone fence. Isabella sighed as Winn's head came to rest on her shoulder. "And then the moment it's clear his hide isn't in immediate danger, he starts sniffing around the hem of the nearest set of skirts. Calling him a swine is insulting to pigs. He's worse than swine. He's…he's…"

"He's someone you care for."

Winn shook her head. "No," she denied. "No. He manipulated me from the very start. I was the best bet for freedom he had and he knew it. I most certainly do _not_ care for him. I _won't_ care for him."

"Then why are you so hurt?"

"He lied to me." Back to forlorn. Her youngest grandchild had clearly overindulged.

"Perhaps we should return to the house. Things will look different after a good night's sleep."

"I don't think sleep is going to help, Grandmama." Winn let her head drop back. "I think I'll stay out here for a little while, let the air sober me up." A sad smile made her lips turn up. "The last time I had a bit too much to drink, I nearly did something very foolish."

"Remember that the next time you think about this night. Both your grandfather and your Captain Sparrow had too much to drink."

"They're not much better when sober."

"If that were true, you wouldn't have been so upset." Isabella leaned down and kissed Winn's forehead. "Welcome home, dearest."

"Good night, Grandmama."

* * *

The annoying cheerful giggle of a young woman interrupted Winn as she walked back to the house. For awhile she'd felt better. Even though she hadn't told her grandmother everything that'd happened between Jack, she'd shared enough to ease the pressure inside her. But that titter and the slurred masculine voice that responded to it, fired her up again.

She set off around the outside of the house, noticing as she went that she was moving from the formal gardens to the kitchen gardens. _Serves me right if I'm becoming worked up over a pair of amorous servants._ This latest ordeal with Jack had turned her into someone she didn't like, even if she did have a right to interfere.

In the dark it was easy enough to come up on the pair unnoticed. For a split second, what she saw made her wish she'd simply returned to the house. Then the jealous shrew inside of her took over, and she no longer cared about much other than herself.

"I hate to interrupt," she announced in a louder than necessary voice. The serving maid leapt like a startled rabbit but Winn barely noticed. Her eyes were pinned on the man who'd reduced her to this.

Jack Sparrow.

Her eyes held him in place as she spoke to the maid. "You know my grandmother's rules, Anne. As long as you are employed here, such conduct is inexcusable. Whether or not you decide to take a lover is up to you, but guests of the family are off limits. We're hardly running a bordello." Winn was harsher than she meant to be, but she was _furious_. With both of them. No, mainly with Jack. "However, I don't hold you alone accountable. I'm sure Mr. Sparrow didn't understand that when he accepted my grandfather's hospitality." _I am __**so**__ unattractive._ For a moment Winn despised herself more than the girl, more than Sparrow. "Return to your quarters," she said quietly, her eyes closed against everything she felt. "But remember what I said. If I witness another such scene, I'll be forced to report it."

"Yes, miss. Thank you, miss."

The girl hurried off, making Winn feel like even more of an ogre. She knew that Anne's family depended on their daughter's job. As long as her father was recovering from an accident at sea, she was their best source of income.

The maid safely gone, Winn opened her eyes again. She looked at Sparrow, disgusted with him…disgusted with herself. They stood where light spilled out of the open kitchen door. She could see half of his face, though not his eyes. His hat shaded them… protected them.

Her eyes had no such protection. Whatever he saw in them had him striding towards her.

"Stay away from me," Winn said in a low, throbbing voice.

He ignored her, of course. Winn held up a hand to stop him, then let it drop. Why did she even bother? It was time to walk away. Long past time to walk away. Except she'd lingered too long and Jack had hold of her before she could even attempt to leave.

"Let go of me, Sparrow."

"Winnie –"

"Do _not_ call me that." She brought her fists down on the inside of his elbows, breaking free of him. But she was so upset that she stayed to fight. "How dare you? After everything you said to me, how _dare_ you?"

Jack winced. She _would_ bring that up. He should have known that she'd immediately assume he'd lied about being attracted to her. "How dare I what?"

"You very well know what, Sparrow."

He shrugged. "You're a hard woman to catch the attention of."

Winn stood before him in shock. "You bastard," she eventually gasped. The pain in her chest wouldn't let her think farther than that. What kind of man used another woman to make someone jealous? What kind of man set out to inflict that?

As he stared down into Winn's aghast face, Jack wondered for the first time if he'd miscalculated. In the past, getting her riled with him had worked to regain her attention. And once they'd arrived here, she'd set herself apart from him. He'd found he disliked not being her focus.

However, he hadn't meant to drive her this far. At dinner she'd been in prime condition. But then her grandmother had called her away, and he'd had a bit more – a lot more – rum, and one thing had led to another. And now he was here.

And she was here.

And he did know a few things about coercing women out of pets.

_Bad idea, mate. She's spitting mad._

Well, getting bitten at this point wouldn't be all bad.

Jack captured Winn's head in his hands, and kissed her.


	18. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: **whoa! Record update time! I don't know if this is a trend that'll continue. This week is dead week, next week is finals week, and then I'll start my summer job. So far it's only part time though, so I should have time to write still.

What'd you all think of At World's End?! I've seen it three times (and counting), have listened to the soundtrack countless times, and found myself very much inspired by it. wink

Well, enjoy this one. A bit shorter than the last update, but I _really_ enjoyed writing this one.

* * *

The texture of his lips was rough against her own; his hands were gently as they cradled her scalp. Winn started to melt…until she remembered _why_ Jack saw fit to kiss her._ Oh no,_ she thought, as she wrenched herself away from his grasp and slapped him full across the face. Her anger held until he turned his face back to her. What happened after that was out of her control. _She_ grabbed _him_ and returned his kiss just to show he'd been doing it wrong.

Jack gave in, understanding that she was furious and hurt. As long as she didn't want to _talk_ about it, he was ready to accept anything she was willing to do to him. It wasn't as if she'd injured him as yet. Not really. He got slapped so often that it didn't really count any more.

Winn felt his willingness to please her and it only made her angrier. She tore away, thinking to give him a dressing down he'd never forget but the sight of his lips and newly trimmed beard brought her back to him for another kiss. And another.

Jack slowly gentled her, slowly pulled her toward him until he could fold his arms around her trim body. Her lashes lay so charmingly against her cheeks, her mouth tasted sweet from the mead she'd been drinking earlier.

_She ate too little at dinner and had too much to drink._ He tried to pull away, but the soft sound of protest she made overwhelmed his good intentions.

"That's it, Winnie," he murmured against her lips as he treated her to shallow kisses that had her fists bunching in the shoulders of his coat.

Her mind was dizzy…fuzzy. Wrapping her arm around Jack's neck, she brought the other hand up to run across his neatly trimmed beard. "I like it. Those braids were very piratey, but not very attractive. Now you have just enough facial hair to look dashing."

Her breath was hot, moist, against his neck. "Dashing?"

"Mm-hm." Now she was smoothing his mustache. "Dashing. It's a good word."

Jack nearly groaned. He wasn't totally lost yet. He knew they stood too close to the house, knew they were lit while everything around them was in shadow.

He knew he couldn't pull her into the shadows because if he did he wouldn't be able to let her go like he should. But then Winn sighed again, and brought herself up on her toes. This time, Jack met her halfway, and the kiss quickly grew in intensity.

It was so easy to take a few steps back, even easier to make her take a few more steps back so that she was trapped between his body and the trunk of a large tree, freeing his hands.

After a few moments Winn realized that she was being supported, not by Jack, but by a tree. His hands were not so much settled on her hips as they were cupping them. She could feel every finger and where it pressed into her flesh.

"Ohh…this may not be a good idea," she breathed, most of her mind focused on the pleasant sensations churning inside her. "Possibly even a bad one."

"Yes, very bad." Jack was kissing the indentation behind her ear, his mustache and beard tickling the rarely touched skin.

"I'm serious, Jack. This could get…oh!" She gasped as Jack nipped at the skin of her neck. "…inconvenient."

"Very." It wasn't the kissing but what Winn's acceptance of his kisses was doing to him that was inconvenient. How could he stop when she didn't make him?

His kisses started to trail down her jaw towards her neck. Though she couldn't stop herself from tilting her head back Winn had enough wits left to weakly protest. "We should stop."

"Aye."

Winn noticed that despite his affirmative agreements, Jack was not stopping. "Why aren't you stopping?" _Why do I want him to stop?_

Returning to her mouth, he whispered, "I'm a pirate. I like bad ideas."

His words hit her mind like a splash of cold water.

"And you're full of them, aren't you?" she asked as she turned her face away.

Jack felt the change in her, felt the distance she was trying to insert between them. It was enough to call back the rational side of his mind, even if he had no earthly idea what she meant. "What are you talking about, luv?"

"This evening. The serving maids. Anne." She had to stop turning Sparrow into the person she wanted him to be. It hurt too much when he fell short of her expectations. "I'm not going to do this, Jack. I'm not going to be just another woman you love and leave. I won't do that to myself."

He tried to close the gap, tried to recapture the woman he'd held just moments before. "I wouldn't leave."

"How easily you make that promise when you hold a woman in your arms. Does it come as easily after dawn? How about when your crew is eager to find new prey? When you feel the call of the sea and can't resist going back to her? How easy is it to promise faithfulness then? Or has it become so natural to you that you don't know that everyone sees your promises for the lies they are?"

"I'm not the only one who has issues with fidelity," Jack said as he pulled away. His head hurt. Not from drink, but from the futility of talking with Winn. He wasn't surprised when she shoved him away and wrapped her arms around herself.

As if trying to mimic the heat of his body, he couldn't help observe.

"I'm not the one who was caught seducing someone else to my bed!"

Jack blinked. This was no time to be caught off guard. "A minor miscalculation. I would have come to you, but I didn't know if I shouldbother. There's obviously someone else there." He could see she had no idea what he meant. "_You_ have the tone of a woman speaking from experience. Who is it that's standing between us right now?"

"You mean other than the _law,_ and common _sense_, and the fact that we're nothing alike?"

"Excuses. I have trouble believe that you'd let such trivial concerns stand between you and what you wanted." He inched closer, let his hands regain their claim on her hips. "Who left you?"

"Everyone," she hissed before jerking away from him and running into the house.

Jack let her go. He'd clearly get no return on his effort tonight, and he needed to consider whether or not to continue his pursuit of her. She'd been right, after all. He _wasn't_ going to stay here. The first opportunity to reach Tortuga that crossed his path would be seized. The effort that gentling Winn would require was the kind of effort a man spent gentling a bride, and he certainly wasn't looking to take a wife.

He shook his head and set off for the beach. Clearly, all this time spent near her family had scrambled his wits. Why else would the thought of brides and wives even enter his head?

What he needed was a nice long swim before bed. The colder, the better.

* * *

When Jack woke the next morning, it was to a painful reality. Though it was barely dawn, the early morning light blinded him and set off a pounding in his head. He'd suffered from worse hangovers in his lifetime, but most of them weren't accompanied by unsheathed swords appearing under his nose. His eyes boggled for a moment as he fought to focus them.

"Oh. It's you." As far as Jack was concerned, Will wasn't much of a threat. Not when he had to worry about Winn's male relatives, who had very good reason to cause him physical harm. Or who would if Winn didn't keep her mouth shut. Luckily for him, Winn was a private person.

Or rather, she had been until he'd sent her off in a fury of anger, hurt, and distrust. _There's a cheerful start to the day._

"Jack…"

"Jack" _really_ hated that long-suffering tone. "It seems to me that we have been in this situation before. Whoever said 'turnabout is fair play,' obviously wasn't a pirate," he slurred. "What rouses you from the comfort of your bridal bed?"

"My bride." To his grief, Will had gone out into the predawn light at Elizabeth's insistence. Well, not so much at her insistence as he'd wanted to forestall the scene she'd inevitably make. "I'm afraid you're on Elizabeth's bad side once again."

"What'd I do?"

"You and Winn weren't exactly quiet last night." Jack froze momentarily, for no longer than a second, but it was enough for Will to notice. He wished he hadn't stumbled across Jack on his way to the main house. So early in the morning, he'd thought he could make a token effort at locating Jack, and then return to the guest house and his new bride's arms. But no, anything involving Jack couldn't be that easy.

"I have no idea what you mean, lad."

Will sheathed his sword and sat on the ground beside the pirate. "We heard everything, Jack." If only that was all he could say. "We saw most of it."

"I didn't know you were the adventurous sort. If I had I would have offered you a more felicitous viewpoint."

Will had to work that one through. When he figured it out he sighed and fought down a blush. The _last_ thing he wanted to see was Jack and Winn…

Jack watched in amusement as Will turned a little green, but that good humor vanished as Will refused to be sidetracked.

"Joke all you want, but Elizabeth isn't the sort to stay quiet."

"Tell me something I didn't know," Jack muttered.

Ignoring the side commentary, Will said, "After Winn ran back to the house, Elizabeth was all for confronting the both of you last night. I won't be able to hold her back forever."

"You sure you're not a eunuch? I've never heard of a man struggling to keep a new wife in bed."

"She thinks you're taking advantage of Winn, Jack. That's not something she's going to let go of."

Wearily Jack asked, "And if I did 'take advantage?' Are you going to challenge me to a duel over the lady's virtue? Or should I look to Elizabeth to perform that honor?"

Will had heard that world weary tone from Jack before – on the _Interceptor_ when he had admitted to knowing Will's father. _Tell me that he doesn't sound like that for the reason I think he does,_ he thought as he studied Jack. "From what I gathered last night, Winn is more than capable of making her wants clear. The question is, what does she want and what would you do if her plans included you?"

"Aye. That is the question." Jack ran his hands over his face, daylight bringing into focus the discovery he had made last night – that Captain Jack Sparrow, a man famous and infamous alike for escaping traps, jails, ambushes, and clever set-ups alike had fallen for the very thing that pirates should avoid: a woman who could eventually come to mean more to him than the sea and his ship.

"You've discharged your duty, lad. You may go back to your lady and ease her mind that 'ole Jack harbors no evil designs on her friend."

"That you harbor no _evil_ designs indicates that you _do_ have a plan of some sort."

"Nonsense."

"Jack, you always have a plan."

"True enough." Jack fingered his compass, considered pulling it out to check its readings. However he didn't want it to confirm anything he didn't wish to acknowledge, so he left it where it was. "The only plans I have for now are to find my way back to the _Pearl_ before I overstay my welcome." Captain Morgan's – the elder Captain Morgan's – welcome had been too calculating for Jack's taste. What he needed was time in which to slip to the town Winn had told him about. It shouldn't be too hard to gain passage – rightfully or not – on a ship heading in the direction he wanted to go.

"I have one question before I go, Jack. Why were you sleeping out here?"

"Freedom." _And I would have had to pass Winn's room to reach mine._

* * *

_I can't hide all day._ Winn stood on the threshold of her attic workroom. She'd been there since shortly after dawn; unable to sleep, she'd thrown herself into several projects that had been left unfinished when she'd left for her misbegotten trip. _It's not as if anything…significant…happened last night. _

How was it that every time she did something "insignificant" with Sparrow, she spent part of the next day hiding?

"So I kissed a man with whom I have no future. I can hardly be the first woman to make that mistake." She closed and locked the door to her studio to keep the young members of the household out. "Long periods of forced proximity can do that. But he'll soon be gone and out of my hair. After all, he's a sailor, a _pirate_. He can't afford to stay long, not and retain control of his vessel. Besides, how many people are out for his head? At the end of this week he'll be back on the _Pearl_ where he belongs, and my life will return to normal. It won't if I foolishly give in to a temporary feeling." _I've seen what happens when someone gives away parts of themselves that they can't afford to. When the pieces are lost the person dies, and they hurt the ones close to them._ "Sparrow hardly seems worth the trouble." Her speech got her to the top of the stairs, but as she stood looking down them, she wondered, _So where does that leave me?_

_ Alone_ whispered the part of her who had been so vocal recently.

"Then so be it."

She descended the stairs quickly, moving fast enough that no one would try to talk to her. Not that there'd been anyone _to_ talk to, she realized as she entered the dining room. The big room was loud and noisy as parents tried to get their children fed with the least amount of trouble.

Seeing that sandwiches had been laid out along with bowls of fruit and pitchers of juice, Winn simply grabbed some food, wanting to leave before she was noticed. She sighed in defeat when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, her mouth already open to make her excuses, she was surprised to feel her sandwich get pulled out of her hand .

"Marty! You know you're not supposed to eat that!" The large bird took no notice of the scolding, swallowing as much of the ham sandwich as he could. Winn tapped her foot. "You know," she told the flamingo as if imparting precious knowledge to a colleague, "you are never going to be a pink flamingo if you don't stop eating people food." Marty just twisted his head upside down and studied her. "Nonsense. We both know it's true."

"Why is it that I seem to find you talking to animals more than to people lately?"

Winn's eyes slipped shut and she bit her lip. _Why is it the scoundrel always comes upon me at the most embarrassing moments? _"It's either that I find them to be better conversationalists, or I've been in your company too long, Captain Sparrow."

Winn's frosty tone had Jack wincing. He'd known how upset she'd been about what had occurred between them the night before, but he'd hoped the intervening hours would have calmed down. At least a little. "Winnie –"

"Pardon me, Captain, but I seem to be in need of a new meal." Contrary to her words, Winn left the dining room altogether. Marty looked at Jack with fowl-ish indignation before letting out a honk that sounded remarkably goose-like.

"Try telling _her_ that." _Hmm, perhaps Winnie has a point._

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say your first mistake was leaving her to her thoughts for too long, Mr. Sparrow."

Jack turned around. "Lady Morgan, I can see who Winn inherited her beauty from." The bit of flattery wasn't as outrageous as it sounded. Aside from the older woman's shockingly red hair, the resemblance between the two was striking.

_And I can see why Winn's in such a tizzy. _Sparrow was the kind of man who created tension in every woman who came his way. Some men used the trait sparingly and others exploited it. Isabella didn't doubt for a moment which kind of man Sparrow was. It was no wonder her granddaughter had stalked off. It was the only way she knew to keep herself safe.

"You're too kind," Isabella murmured in a voice perfectly pitched to be heard over the din. "Perhaps you might see fit to indulge an old lady's whim and join me in a stroll about the gardens. As much as I love my great-grandchildren, their table manners leave something to be desired."

"I'm not sure –"

"I am." The words were spoken in the tone of a parent expecting obedience from a scapegrace child.

"Well, when you put it that way…" Jack offered his arm and allowed himself to be led out into the garden. Clearly the women in this household held all the power.

They strolled in silence for a few minutes, slowly leaving the noise of the house behind. When only the waves and the wind could be heard, Isabella spoke. "Last night was chaotic, but I noticed the attention you paid to my granddaughter."

"I –"

"_I_ wouldn't bother denying it if I were you," she said gently. "Unlike you and Winifred, I didn't turn my head every time one of you turned yours."

"As I was going to say, I'm all ears."

"Smart man. What I'm going to tell you is for your ears alone. It's not my intent to meddle in your affairs, or in Winn's for that matter. However, should you decide to continue your pursuit of her, then there's things about Winn that you need to know."

* * *

Winn almost made it to the staircase before she heard her grandfather call her name. He must have been on the lookout for her, and from the snap in his voice, she was unsure of what that boded for her.

Composing her features into a semblance of neutrality, she turned around. "Yes, Grandfather?" she said politely, "You wanted to see me?" Marty came up beside her, begging for more food. "I've fed you enough for one day," she muttered. "Leave me be."

"Talking to yourself?"

"No, trying to make this overgrown parrot of yours realize that he's not welcome company at the moment."

"Hmph. Well, don't just stand there, girl. Come into my study. There's something I need to speak to you about, and some people I'd like you to meet."

Winn closed her eyes, trying to quell the annoyance that was rising up inside her. All she wanted to do was find someplace quiet and private where she could tend to the wounds that she'd caused herself. "As you wish."

There were three men sitting in various chairs scattered about the room. When she entered, they all stood, although it seemed to be more out of respect to the man behind her than in any acknowledgement of her gender. "Winifred, I would like to introduce you to three of the captains who are currently sailing for me."

He gestured to the nearest man, a younger captain with red hair, squinty hazel eyes, and a more than liberal dusting of freckles. "This is Captain Jonathan Monroe, of the _Sea Falcon_." The man before her lifted his hat in recognition. Winn murmured a polite something or other as she wondered what was going on.

Ignoring her reticence, Morgan continued the introductions. "Next I would like to introduce you to Captain Michael Beckett, of the _Raven's Flight_." _That's imaginative, _thought Winn. _The man certainly appears as if he should be captaining a ship named after a black bird._ The captain in question had a thick shock of blue-black hair and black eyes that glimmered with something that made Winn uncomfortable. She merely nodded at the man as her grandfather introduced the last man in the group. "And this is Captain Timothy Stone, of the _Nightingale_." This man had a mass of chestnut curls that fell into eyes that were nearly the same color, and a broad smile.

Smiling weakly in return, Winn looked to her grandfather. The shrewd look in his eyes unsettled her considerably. "Gentlemen, it was a pleasure to meet you. However… Grandfather, may I speak to you privately?"

She waited as Morgan studied her with a critical eye. Whatever he saw must have displeased him. He took the seat behind his desk with a sigh and motioned for the three captains to step outside.

The doors closed with a heavy thump, one that broke Winn out of her paralysis. Whatever was happening here was something that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up in alarm. "What –"

"Why am I introducing you to these men?" Winn nodded mutely, her stomach sinking in apprehension. "You will choose one of those men by the end of the week."

"Choose one for what?"

"The debacle with Sparrow left your reputation in tatters, m'girl. The only way to calm the gossip is to see you married, and married well. I will _not_ neglect my duty in this matter. Therefore you will choose one of those men to be your husband, and you will be married before the week is out."

Winn in her shock and confusion, felt the world start spinning and saw the world go black before her eyes. _I think I'm about to faint._

* * *

Isabella watched as Sparrow bristled. "I've not walked the earth these seventy-two years without learning a great deal about people, Mr. Sparrow. You may deny your motives all you want, but your eyes light up with interest whenever my granddaughter is around."

Jack's laugh was self-mocking. "I've never been accused of paying a lack of attention to pretty ladies." _And it gets me into one scrape after another._

"Well, as true as I'm certain that is, I know your kind, Jack Sparrow. You were well rid of Winifred when she left you in Tortuga. Why follow her to Port Royal? Why take that risk when there's other women who'd be content to fawn over you for a day and a night and then never lay eyes on you again?"

Jack tried to find his usually endless well of bravado, but couldn't seem to gather enough scraps to fashion a snappy comeback. And it didn't matter how motherly the audience – he was _not_ going to spill his deepest secrets like a terrified penitent to a priest.

His lack of answer was all that Isabella needed to hear.

"Winifred's parents married young and suddenly." From the corner of her eye, she could see the surprised look the pirate gave her. "My son was a driven young man, never content to sit at home when there were new challenges to be met. Though he loved Claire dearly, he wasn't able to give up the sea.

"Winn was twelve when my Edward died while trying to capture Spanish frigate in English waters. Claire should have been there to see to Winn, but from the little Winn's said over the years, her mother lost any interest she had in living. Claire took to wandering the night, to standing on a cliff overlooking the harbor in any and all weather. The daughter was forced to care for the mother. By the time Winn was fifteen, Claire had succumbed to consumption." Isabella paused for a long time, lost in memory. Jack was on the verge of leaving her to it when she continued her story.

"Correspondence between England and her colonies is notoriously spotty. Inclement weather, pirate raids, incompetent or mutinous crews… No one heard anything from Winn until over a year after Claire passed. She assured us that she was well, that she was happy, and that she did _not_ want her brothers to come back for her."

_ "Who left you?"_

_ "Everyone."_

_The stubborn wench didn't want anyone to see how much her solitude hurt._

"She said her brothers would never let her earn her own way." Isabella and Jack were both caught by surprise by the arrival of Elizabeth and Will. For a new bride, Elizabeth looked disgusted, though Jack thought he might be the cause of that. Or possibly it was Winn's past behavior. "She thought she'd caused her mother's death, and she didn't want her brothers to know." When everyone looked at her with shock, Elizabeth had the grace to look abashed. "She never spoke it. I…I read her journal."

_Figures._ Jack leaned back against a stone wall.

"She was afraid to get close to anyone after her mother died. Not that she said that either, but she was always just a little too conscious of the fact that she had been taken in. When I would try to give her a hug good-night she'd accept it, yet manage to keep herself distant. The only time that she truly let herself be herself was when she was too angry to do anything else."

"I should have invited you to visit ages ago," Isabella said, breaking the spell of silence that had held them.

"Thank you, Lady Morgan." Elizabeth looked at her husband as if gathering strength. "Might I speak to Jack privately? That is, if you've finished your business with him."

Isabella rose, every inch the daughter of an aristocratic house. "I hope you and Mr. Turner will join me for tea this afternoon." Will jumped to attention, offering the old lady his arm as they walked back to the house. Jack snorted when the young man turned his head over his shoulder and mouthed "_Be nice"_ to his bride.

Elizabeth just simpered until the two turned a corner, and then she rounded on Jack. Her eyes flashed with temper and her hands rested squarely on her hips. "What were you thinking, I'd like to know?

"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow," Jack replied, a little uncertain of what Elizabeth meant and a lot unnerved by her quicksilver change of mood.

"I've seen the influence you've had on her, Jack. It's a good one. You've invaded her fortress, though you've yet to claim it. So she fights you, and herself. Once she's decided that something fundamentally _is_, it's hard to convince her otherwise. She's decided that being alone is what she wants, so she's doing everything she can to ensure you have no place in her life. Not even as a fond memory.

"I don't know what it is that you want from her, Jack, though I think I may have an idea. I've seen the way that you look at her." Forestalling Jack's objection to that statement, she poked him in the chest and followed him as he tried to back away. "I doubt that Winn credits it to more than your being flirtatious, which is why she ran off last night. She feels something for you!"

"Does marriage turn all women into quarrelsome, interfering busybodies?"

"I haven't yet begun to interfere," Elizabeth threatened. "I've had enough of her claims that all she wants is a quiet life with a man who barely even exists on the periphery of her day to day life.

"I don't know what you want, Jack, but I know what Winn needs. She needs someone who makes her mad, and who makes her laugh when she doesn't want to, and who steals away the attention she still pays to her past hurts. She's never been one to come around to any way of thinking without a fight. If she's fighting this hard against _you_, then perhaps there's hope for her."

"What about what I need?"

Elizabeth's brows rose. "Well, she's passionate enough once she's roused. And you…" Her eyes were businesslike as she gave him a quick head-to-toe scan as the man himself choked. "Needless to say, that…area…shouldn't be too much of a problem. And though she may make your life a misery, at least it would never be dull."

In the distance they both heard a door slam. As if it had been a signal for life to resume all of the children came racing out the patio doors, yelling and screaming as if they would never have another chance to do so. Under the cover of their youthful hollers and howls, Elizabeth gave Jack one last piece of advice. "Think about what I said, and then go find Winn and talk to her before you both make a bigger muddle of things than you already have."

"I'm going to have to add 'bawdy' to that list," Jack muttered to himself as Elizabeth walked away. "I suppose the boy isn't a eunuch after all."

* * *

As welcome as oblivion would be, fainting now would be a tactical mistake. Mercifully, the world steadied and jumped back into focus with a rush of heat that left Winn reckless.

"I don't care what you think your duty to me is. I am _not_ going to marry _any_ of those men. When I _do_ wed it will be to someone _I_ choose."

"Didn't I just say I was giving you a choice?"

"Out of men that you deem acceptable. That likely means that every single one of them is overbearing, arrogant, and used to having their orders obeyed without question. We both know that I would make a poor bride for any man made from that mold."

"You dare to disobey my direct order?" Morgan rose to his feet behind his desk, planted his fists on the cluttered surface, and glowered at his grandchild. Winn had to admit that he made a fine picture, what with the captured pennants of the ships he'd raided hanging on the wall behind him and his fiercely bushy silver eyebrows bunched low over his eyes. However, this wasn't the first time they'd quarreled. _Though it'll likely be the last._

Shock and rage were coagulating into a mass of emotion that was beating at all the controls she had. One by one each wall, every defense, all her barriers were swept away in a single wave of emotion. In the face of such passion there was only one thing she could do. "I dare a great many things, the _least_ of which is mutinying against an unfair, tyrannical order!"

"Do not test me, Winifred. If you fail to make a selection from the available captains on this island by sundown on Friday night, then your brothers and I will decide who will suit you best," he bellowed. "Either way you will –"

"I'd rather be called a whore behind my back than live the rest of my life face to face with a man I was forced into marriage with!" Ignoring Morgan's commands to come back, Winn raced from the room, unable to say where she was trying to go except for away. Reaching the front door she threw it open, and then slammed it shut as she exited the house.


	19. Chapter 18

**Author's Note:** New chapter! New chapter! New chapter from one of LBCC's newest graphic design students. Ha! Yes, I made it into my program – just got the acceptance letter today – and you all get a present as a result. ;)

Enjoy this one. It's time to see Isabella and Henry finally butting heads, and to see Winn and Jack start to finish their fall for one another. The next chapter should be up soon. I've already gotten most of it plotted in my head. Should be loads of fun. :D

And speaking of loads of fun, I ran across a few things while writing this chapter. I have a man named Beckett and in CbtP, I had an island named Deadman's Cay (which is pronounced "key" and not "cay" as in cake). I've come up with a theory that every fanfic writer might eventually use an element that will appear in a forthcoming edition of their fandom of choice. Because I wrote both stories before DMC came out.

* * *

"What did you do?" Morgan had always thought it uncanny how his wife appeared the moment he did something that was certain to upset her. 

"My duty as the head of this family!" He was blustering, and they both knew it. Unlike Winn, his Isa kindly didn't point it out. "_That **girl**_ has run wild long enough!"

"And who was it that encouraged her to do so?"

"Encouraging her to take an active role in the family's business can hardly be compared to urging the girl to gad about."

Isabella shook her head. "Winn does _not_ gad about. But never mind that. What sent her storming out of the house?"

"What would you have me do, Isa? The gossips already have her pregnant with an illegitimate child. It won't matter that no child will ever appear. The damage has been done."

"Henry…"

"Pardon me, sir." Captain Stone stuck his head around the open door. "Will you be needing us now that the young lady has…left?"

Morgan didn't reply. He was too captivated by the expression on his wife's face. The way she comprehended his intent without him directly explaining…

Isabella was the one who quietly said, "No. Your presence is no longer necessary."

"Yes'm." Stone was brave enough in his way, but he had no desire to be caught up in the storm brewing in the study.

Isabella quietly shut the door behind the man, then turned to her husband. "You old fool." Her arms crossed over her chest, the equivalent to striking colors and running out cannon.

"Winn needs to marry," Morgan said in his defense.

"Not any of those three, if the men I passed in the hall were the ones you had in mind. I'll assume my grandsons weren't involved in this scheme. Ry at least has more sense. He wouldn't allow Stone or Beckett anywhere near his sister."

"They may have certain _reputations_," Morgan conceded, "but each of those men can hold on to what's theirs."

"Any man who needs to 'hold on' to Winn to keep from losing her is that wrong man for her. She doesn't appreciate being clung to."

"Any other man wouldn't take her on at this point."

Isabella's eyes chilled with contempt. "You speak as if you believe her damaged goods," she said softly.

"Don't be ridiculous! Winnie is my granddaughter as well, and she's dear to me whatever her state."

"Then why the rush to get her to the altar?"

Morgan's face softened with regret. "If she were in love, this wouldn't be a problem. But her brothers are married as are most of her friends. And Winn is unhappy. She needs a change of pace."

"Yes, fighting with her family does usually brighten her day. She especially enjoys her arguments with you."

"Don't be impertinent, woman. I only did what I thought was best."

"And after your weighty contemplations, this is the course you decided upon? Congratulations. Rather than soften her towards marriage, you halted any progress she was making towards that conclusion."

Morgan's eyes sharpened. "Winnie has marriage in mind?"

"I'm not sure she'd planned that far in advance. But she had romance in mind at least."

"With whom?"

"I don't think I should answer that. You've made a big enough muddle of things as it is. Any more interference from your quarter and she'll give up entirely."

As Morgan studied his wife a scowl formed on his face. "The pirate? She's infatuated with the pirate?"

"Don't overreact, Henry. Remember which of your grandchildren we're discussing. If she's anything, she's perplexed and fascinated despite herself by _Sparrow's_ infatuation with _her_."

"But she's returning his attentions."

_I knew he was going to latch onto that._ "Much in the same way that she welcomed your suggestions about her love live."

"Hrmph."

Isabella knew that tone of voice well. It indicated a temporary retreat while he evaluated his last attack and planned his next.

"Promise me that you'll not raise this matter with Winn again."

"Now see here –"

"I mean it, Henry. Winn's balanced on a knife blade. If you push this, the display she made while leaving will seem like a tempest in a teapot, and God knows when we'll see her again."

_Tempest in a teapot._ That was certainly an apt description of Winn. "Very well," Morgan unwillingly agreed. "I'll not badger Winn."

* * *

Smuggler's Cove was a tavern, and a popular one at that. That's why Winn found herself sneaking in through the kitchen rather than entering through the front door. It was her attire – windblown hair, paint-splattered clothing, worn house shoes – not her presence that garnered her strange looks. She was no stranger to those who worked in the kitchen or to the owners of the premises, but she usually dressed better when she came into town. 

"Master Alex ain't here, lass," called a stooped old woman tending to a kettle over the hearth. "His ship ain't expected 'til evenin', and that only if the weather should hold."

"Thank you, Mrs. Cowper."

"Here now, don't be rushing off. You young people, always in a hurry. You've no reason to hurry, says I. Take a load off and have a bowl. You're too bony. Much too bony. Men like a woman who's got a little somethin' to hold on to."

As persuasion went, it was the wrong tack to take. "No thank you, Mrs. Cowper. I couldn't eat a bite right now."

Mrs. Cowper was grumbling about girls who thought more of the size of their waists than a good bowl of chowder as Winn left. The speech left her unmoved, and the offer of chowder untempted. She was so… She couldn't even think of the word to describe what she felt. Furious. Betrayed. Unsurprised.

Amused.

No, not amused. Resigned perhaps, but not amused.

She needed someone to talk to. Someone who wasn't her family, or newly married, or a pirate. She needed a friend who was as uninterested in marriage as she was. And where was this friend? Inconsiderately out on a run.

"Bloody smugglers," she muttered under her breath as she left the more populated areas of Osprey Point in favor of the streets that looked out over the harbor. She intended to be on hand the moment that Alex and his ship appeared. Besides, the best way to keep her family from finding her – and certainly they'd send _someone _to drag her back – was to keep moving.

Hours passed as Winn aimlessly wandered down the streets of Osprey Point. At first she saw the looks and the half-hidden whispers that followed her. Seeing that her Grandfather's worries were not as groundless as she'd believed did nothing for her mood. But as the sun started to set, her stamina started to lag. Her surroundings became muzzy and unimportant.

When her aching feet refused to take her a step further, Winn pulled herself up to sit on a pier. The dockside taverns and inns were lighting their lamps. A ship – if it wasn't Alex's she was going to start crying – entered the mouth of the bay. She watched it until it made dock. Marking it's position, she slowly climbed off her perch to go meet it.

Her journey led her through the seedier lower section of the town. Warehouses and taverns alike had sprung up, many of them having been in business since the settlement had been founded. Many of them catered to those without the money or the patience to move further inland. As for those lacking the necessary papers to legally store goods, well, they too could be catered to in better style. As long as the cargo wasn't dangerous the Point's citizens didn't care much where contraband was stored. No, this part of the waterfront housed those who were just barely acceptable, even in such lax environs.

Though Winn had always made it a point to travel this way in daylight she was too tired to take such caution now. All she cared about was her tired feet, the cooling air, and her empty belly. Apparently even her grandfather's preposterous declaration couldn't sap her appetite forever.

She'd almost reached her destination, had begun to anticipate joining her friend over a hot meal as she explained her dilemma, when the attack blindsided her. A pair of dirty hands grabbed her by the arms and jerked her into a darkened alley. Her back slammed into the plank wall of a dilapidated warehouse. A line of pain blazed across her shoulder, but was overridden by the panic of having her breath knocked out of her as she was quickly tossed to the ground. Dazed, unable to call out, she heard a rough voice say, "Lookee what we got 'ere, Johnny, Tooth. A skirt wand'rin' the streets lookin' for a bit of bizness."

The last of the day's light lit the men from behind. Their shadows loomed over her, making them appear huge and blackly solid. The sailors were drunk and mean and didn't bother wasting any more time talking. The first of them was on her and fumbling for her skirts before she could catch her first breath.

_Breathe!_ Her head swam as her lungs finally expanded. The desperate gasp was loud in her ears. One of the sailor's grimy paws covered her mouth before she could let the breath out. Fear and blind rage swept her pain aside long enough for her to act. She bit down hard, drawing blood from the leathery palm over her mouth. The man growled and struck her across the face. He raised his arm to strike her again, but Winn plunged his knife into his gut before he could finish the movement. Hot blood gushed out, coating her hands in an instant. His scream meshed with the yowls of rage his cohorts let out.

Winn yanked the knife back. The skirts of her worn and patched dress ripped about her knees as she tried to scramble to her feet before she was pinned by her attacker's dead weight. One of the other two men knocked her back down with a vicious kick before a blur knocked him to the side. The report of a pistol echoed between the buildings. The ringing in her ears couldn't quite conceal the sound of a body falling or her heavy pants.

"My God, Freddy!"

Being saved was more than her nerves could take. She started sobbing even as kind but rough hands pulled her to feet. Strong arms kept her upright and another pair of hands skimmed over her body, searching for damage. The sensation was too much like being pinned again and she tried to jerk away.

"Hush, sweetheart." The arms tightened. "What kind of greeting is this for an old friend?"

"Alex?" Winn's voice was as wobbly as her knees.

"Mmm…I'm just the brute force. That's your brother Richard checking to ensure you're all of a piece."

"Richie?"

Richard had been in no hurry to catch up with his sister that afternoon. It was all well and good that Grandmama wanted her safely back, but he saw no reason why he should have to endure her rants while attempting to escort her back to the Rest. Like Winn, he'd waited for Thompson to make port, knowing that between the two of them, they could calm Winn down enough to have a rational discussion. He'd been walking into town with Alex in the hopes of running into Winn when the sound of a woman's screams had pierced the night. They'd rushed to save her, both of them dreading what they'd find. Osprey Point, though tamed, was nothing like domesticated and there were certain parts of town that a woman didn't dare wander without an escort. _He _was the escort that hadn't been with her.

In a bland voice that wouldn't upset her further, he replied, "Grandmama sent me after you. She knew that Ry and Marcus would just bully you into returning to the Rest. Perhaps she should have sent them after all." Richard pulled out a knife and cut off the sleeves of his shirt to staunch the blood flowing from the tear in his sister's shoulder. "Can you raise your arm?" Even as he asked the question, Richard raised it and placed it over Alex's shoulder so he could bind the makeshift band in place. "Where else were you hurt?"

There was a crowd gathering at the mouth of the alley. The light from their torches illuminated the squalid space. Winn's stomach roiled as she saw the body of the man she'd killed.

"Freddy." Alex shifted so that his shoulder blocked the grisly sight. "Tell us where else you're hurt."

"He hit me." Her voice was enervated.

"Did he do anything else?" Richard's voice was bland, though that was the farthest thing from what he felt.

"I think…I think he tripped me."

The two men traded glances as Richard pulled his knots tight. Winn was nearly in a stupor. Her skirts were dirty and torn and she'd killed a man. She'd been hurt; there was no denying that. What mattered was if they'd arrived in time to keep her from being irreparably damaged.

"I hit my head pretty hard."

Winn's pitiful whisper calmed their fears a little, yet Alex tested her a little further.

"Better your head than something that might have been damaged."

"Sod off." It was the reply he'd been hoping for. He scooped her up and followed behind Richard who was making a path through the crowd who accepted their murmurs of concern with absentminded nods. The concern was appreciated, but it was hardly enough.

* * *

Dinner that night was a tense affair. The women in the household had seemingly drawn battle lines against the men. Morgan was the only man in attendance who acted unaffected by the women's rigid composure. Marcus, Ry, and Will all appeared confused, chagrined, and contrite but the women had yet to signal an end to hostilities. The children were quiet, instinctively reacting to the adults' moods. 

Jack was the only adult at the table who hadn't a clue about the source of the discontent. As the matter seemed to be a domestic one, he was more than content to allow matters to stay that way. Still, his quick mind noted the absence of Winn and Richard. It didn't take a genius to piece together the slammed door earlier in the day, the special iciness between Sir and Lady Morgan, and the absent family members. Jack counted himself lucky to be uninvolved in the squabble. Even better, the acrimony in the room was so thick that no one was paying him any mind.

His chances of slipping away unnoticed had vastly improved.

Jack was busy making plans when the main doors to the dining room opened. A rumpled, anxious looking Richard stood in the doorway. "Grace," he said quietly, "she's upstairs and she needs your attention."

Just like that, worry replaced antagonism. Morgan and Isabella were right behind Grace. Their glares pinned the other family members in their seats. The doors shut, footsteps retreated, and at once everyone started talking over everybody else.

Theories flew fast and thick through the air as everyone speculated about what might have happened. Jack gleaned that the closest doctor lived in Osprey Point and that Grace was the most experienced of any of them when it came to doctoring. If she'd been summoned first, then _something_ must have happened to Winn…though Ry was sticking to his theory that Richard simply wanted someone with sense to dose his sister with enough laudanum to allow everyone to sleep peacefully tonight. Jack saw the validity of that argument, though he didn't bother voicing his support. Calling attention to himself as he was sneaking out the garden doors would hardly be smart.

Salt was heavy in the air. Jack breathed in the scent deeply, almost cursing the smell of wet vegetation that tainted the sea's tang. Even when he chose to go ashore, he rarely stayed this long. Being on land was too much like being penned in.

He wanted to set off right away, but some sensible part of himself whispered, _You'll want provisions, mate. No guarantee that the ship you'll leave on will have any on hand for you._

True enough. Jack stuck to the shadows as he made for the kitchen. His travels led him under a set of open windows.

"I don't know what Winn was thinking."

He slowed when he heard voices floating out of them. Curiosity held him in place when he heard Winn's name.

"She wasn't, thanks to your grandfather."

"I can hardly be blamed for the girl's state!" Morgan roared. "I –"

"Drove her from her home with your unreasonable demands."

_I suppose the truce isn't as stable as I'd supposed._ Jack peeked over the window ledge. Morgan was staring at his wife in red-faced fury as she glared right back at him. Richard looked uncomfortable until he looked towards the stairs. Then his face turned hopeful. Jack waited, expecting to see Grace come into view so the blond haired stranger was a surprise.

"Grace is with her," he explained without preamble, making it clear that he was familiar with the family. "Though I still think we should have forced her to see Dr. Trevellin. It's not as if she was in any shape to protest. That cut on her shoulder is nasty and I don't like the way she's coddling her side."

One of the men snorted. Richard said, "She's _always_ capable of fighting. That's why I didn't insist on it. We had enough trouble getting her back here as it was."

"Richard, you still haven't explained what happened." Isabella's voice was stern but calm.

Jack left before that explanation could begin. He'd heard enough. Overhearing any more would have him sneaking upstairs instead of off the estate and he'd dealt with more than enough of the Morgan family's problems. If he wasn't being carted around by them, he was being lectured by one of them, and he certainly wasn't going to let his prime opportunity to escape pass by simply because the lass had gotten into a scuffle of some sort. If no one was insisting on a real doctor then she was hardly hovering on death's door and he could leave with a clean conscience.

_Can't leave without my hat though. And it'd be a shame to leave my effects behind._ Jack circled back. The great debate was still raging. _Safe enough to slip inside then._ The house was ablaze with light but scant on people. Most of the Morgan family was still cloistered in the dining room, the doors to which the servants undoubtedly stood outside with their ears pressed to keyholes. He'd snuck through enough great houses to know that servants always took pains to know the doings of their employers.

And honestly, in a household such as this one, who could blame them? There was no limit to what these people could get up to. They were quite like pirates in that manner, excepting their inconvenient lack of immorality, indecency, and disloyalty.

It was a wonder he'd stayed this long. Clearly his overdeveloped sense of curiosity was getting the better of him.

His weapons were stashed in old Morgan's office, though not under lock and key. The man had long run his home unchallenged and the grip of his iron fist was loosening. Jack exited through the window, stashed all but his pistol in a group of bushes he thought he could find again, then reentered the house through one of the many doors that led inside.

He was up the stairs with no one the wiser, and was well on his way to his room before he remembered that he'd pass Winn's room on the way to fetch his hat. There was no one to see him as he stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the hallway. Was it worth the risk of continuing on or should he retrace his steps and take another route to his room?

_Ridiculous. She's just another female, mate. Hardly anything to be afraid of. Besides, after her ordeal she'll be kept behind lock and key by that loyal family we discussed earlier._

Feeling reassured, Jack set off again. He should have known that he'd be wrong about Winn, just as he'd been wrong about her so many times before. She was _not_ under lock and key. She was in fact, sitting smack dab in front of her very much open doorway, dressed in a shirt gone grey from numerous launderings and short breeches that left uncovered everything that the stockings a proper woman like her should have been wearing would have concealed. Once again Jack stopped, this time frozen by the sight of bare ankles and a pair of very feminine calves. His eyes made a leisurely journey up, past her – unfortunately – covered knees, catching on the loose tails of the man's shirt she was wearing – the blond's? – and snagging on a missing button. He bristled at the evidence that some other man had offered up a shirt for her use and chilled as he had to wonder _why_ she needed a man's shirt in the first place. His gaze jumped to her grimy neck, the smear of blood underneath one small shell of an ear…

A board creaked under him as he took an unwitting step forward. Winn's head snapped around, proving that whatever happened to her had left more than physical marks. Her face was paler than he'd ever seen it, the freckles along the bridge of her nose and cheeks standing out like gunpowder on bleached canvas.

Reluctantly, Jack met her eyes. One was encircled by blue and purple bruises. Both were filled with something that made her one of the most dangerous creatures known to man: a skittish female with a deep need for the comfort only a man could give. Not through sex, but companionship. Whatever had happened had left her longing for safety, had made her realize one of the benefits of having a man to turn to. However, she was looking to the wrong man, and they both knew it.

As Jack held Winn's eyes, he realized something else as well. No matter how ill-matched they were or how ready to admit it, something in him preened under her regard. It wasn't something he was used to seeing in a woman. A desire for his money? Yes. Occasional desire for his person? Yes. A desire for more than that? No, and he fought against its seductive warmth.

She saw his struggle. Her eyes grew hard and veiled. The connection between them snapped and Jack…well, Jack ran away because he'd let Winn see too much.

She knew he was leaving.

* * *

Winn locked the door after Grace when her sister-in-law left. Her room immediately felt suffocatingly small, but her only other option was to leave the way unbarred to any who wanted to come in. And tonight she couldn't cope with children in her bed or well meaning siblings checking her for fever or even the advice of her grandmother. Tonight she was devastated – once again through a cooperative effort by her grandfather and Sparrow – and she needed to be alone. 

_Though this airless space is nearly as insufferable as…_ Rather than dwell on the fact that she was being left again, Winn hurried to her window and threw it open. Pige, sulking after being left alone all day was safely under the bed, otherwise she might have been trampled in Winn's rush.

The night appeared so peaceful. If not for her aching ribs, she'd climb out her window and down the honeysuckle trellis.

_Except my escape would simply prove an illusion. Just like this afternoon._ She shuddered as her attackers trapped her again. Though they were only in her mind, they were no less savage. At least she hadn't been able to dwell on what might have happened and make herself sick with it as it'd been occurring. The aftermath was almost worse than the experience.

Almost.

_Oh my god. I killed a man._ Winn hid her face in shaking hands. A cold sweat broke out along her spine and agony twisted her gut as she remembered the sick slide of steel into unprotected flesh. It didn't matter that she'd had to defend herself. It didn't matter that those men had likely planned on burying more than a knife in her before they'd finished. Their actions had no bearing on her own.

_I was threatened._

_ You killed a man._

_ It was him or me!_

_ And the next time?_

_What next time?_ Winn's knees buckled and she painfully collapsed to the floor. Shaking, trembling uncontrollably, tears running down her face, she started to laugh. Who was there left to threaten her? Grandfather's threats, though upsetting, were empty. Who was there left to hurt? Jack had already left. She started rocking back and forth, trying to comfort herself, trying to remain silent…but it was so hard and she was so tired of trying.

Something loud hit the floor close to her. Winn flinched away, scooting herself backwards on her scraped palms. The wound on her shoulder broke open under her demands and she sobbed to feel the fresh trickle of blood.

"Hush now, Winnie." A hand wrapped around the back of her knee, another around the back of her neck. They didn't try to move her, rather they held her still as the man moved near her. "What's these tears?"

_Jack?_ Eyes she hadn't realized were closed popped open. There Sparrow was in all his ridiculous glory. _He…came back? How dare he!_

"They're tears of joy," she snapped as she angrily wiped all evidence of tears away. "What are you doing here, Jack Sparrow? I thought I'd finally gotten rid of you."

His smile arrogantly knowing. "You wouldn't be lying to me, would you?"

"Lying? To you? That'd be a waste of a perfectly good sin."

"My mistake." Jack carefully wiped a stray tear away with his thumb. "Here I thought I knew you –"

"How dare you _presume _to know my thoughts," Winn seethed. She was certain he didn't know that he'd hurt her by leaving. His conceit just wouldn't let him accept any other answer for her tears. "Get your bloody hands off me, you…you…"

"Pirate?"

"Exactly."

Unconcerned with her rage, Jack swept her braid aside and studied her neck. The smear of blood was still there. "What mischief caught you up tonight, lass?" He felt her go still under his hands. For the first time he noticed how clammy her skin was. He ghosted a hand over her cheek, but resisted the urge to chafe warmth back into her. The house was much too quiet for that kind of business.

"Jack…" Her voice quivered and split and a dangerous warmth kindled inside him. Winn obviously needed someone to steer her clear of the trouble she attracted. _Seems as though someone's already offered, mate._ Her shirt was a simple piece of rough-woven cotton, but it offended him all the same. If he had to see her clad in a man's shirt, then he wanted to be the one providing it.

_Oh bugger._

Winn was confused when Jack pulled away from her. What she saw in his eyes when he did made her glad he had. He had that look, the kind of speculative look men excelled at giving. She'd seen it on the faces of her brothers as they looked at their wives. More recently she'd seen it on Will's face when he looked at Elizabeth. And more importantly, she knew what happened after that look was given. She was starting to _feel_ what happened after that look was given.

It was suddenly necessary to her survival to have as much distance between her and Jack as possible.

"Get _out_, Sparrow. You were eager enough to be gone earlier."

"You can't blame a pirate for trying, luv. Your mad family clouded my judgment."

His charm felt like a trap closing in around her. To steel herself against him she brought up very valid reasons for her to want him gone. "Is that what happened the other night with Anne?"

Jack was slow in replying, as if he sensed the traps _she_ was laying. "No… That was the rum."

"Wonderful. A little rum and you chase after anything in skirts."

"You weren't wearing skirts aboard the _Black Pearl._"

"You weren't drunk aboard the _Pearl._"

"Tells you something, doesn't it?"

Winn opened her mouth, then shut it. Jack had ably distracted her with his talk. _And_ he'd taken advantage of her distraction. By moving closer to her. His hand still rested on her knee but it was no longer there to gentle her. Somehow his touch had turned into a caress, too familiar for her comfort and yet so unthreatening that she hadn't noticed the change until now.

"I'll scream, Jack." It was a whispered act of desperation, but she couldn't think of any other way to make him go. This time when he left, it'd be for good. There'd be no coming back. But he _had_ to go, and it had to be before he was able to take a piece of her with him.

"Will you? Is that a promise?"

"No, it's a threat, you daft man."

"Oh." His face fell a little, then brightened. "If you scream, it'll bring you well-intentioned family running. Think they'll ignore our being cloistered alone together for a second time?" Jack was intrigued to see Winn go pale. He was less intrigued when she nearly swooned even through they were sitting down. "What's wrong?" he asked sharply.

She ignored his concern. It was inconsequential in the face of what might happen if they were discovered together. "You can't be found here, Jack."

"Why not?" He could see the lie forming in her eyes. "Tell me the truth, lass. What sent you flying from the house this afternoon?"

Winn made the mistake of meeting his eyes. Then, like the stupid women she'd always looked down on, she burst into tears at the surprising sincerity of his question. They weren't ladylike tears either. Her sobs were the kind normally heard from overtired toddlers. She tried to explain that she never did this, that she was just…hurt by her grandfather's demands, and scared still from her attack, and lonely, and so very glad he'd come back…

And then she sobbed even harder as she realized she liked and cared for this pirate who by his own choice or by no fault of his own was certain to leave her. She was no smarter than her mother, or even than her own younger self. She was stupid, and naïve, and irrational… And though she knew it was going to hurt _so_ much when he left she clung to him as he pulled her into his arms and pressed her face into his chest to muffle her sobs.

_Well…I've got her where I want her…though this isn't exactly what I had in mind._ To be sure, Jack appreciated kisses of all sorts, but there was a world of difference between wet and…soggy. Women in Winn's state were most definitely soggy.

He didn't know what to do with this female. He usually left them before they got to this point. Though he couldn't say for certain, he was certain Winn's dramatics outpaced them all. And it wasn't just the matter of her tears. She ran hot, then cold for reasons he could guess at but couldn't fathom. She got into barroom brawls then cried when asked why she chose to involve herself in them. She wanted him but wouldn't have him, not because morals but for fears. Yet here she was, scandalously attired and alone with him once again, cradled in his lap and sobbing as if the heart she guarded so fiercely had been broken by someone she expected to protect it.

What _could _he do but sit with her? It was an ugly task, but not without compensations. He had the full weight and length of her pressed against him, and a partial measure of her trust at long last. So he cradled her head, and swept his hand up and down her back. On each upstroke he paused as she gasped and momentarily stopped her tears. If his touch felt so good on her shoulder, then perhaps he ought to concentrate his efforts there.

Though he couldn't figure out why her shirt was so wet when it was his that was soaking up her tears.

Jack pulled his hand away and held it up to the candlelight. His palm was smeared with blood. _She's bleeding. _She was bleeding from a wound he'd been pressing on and lingering over, and she'd never once told him to knock it off.

_Bloody…_

"Alright, off with your shirt, lass." He'd intended to punish her a little for being so silent as he caused her pain, but his plan backfired. Jack's jaw dropped as Winn's nails dug into his chest. _But at least she's not crying anymore._ Though he wasn't sure trembling like a whipped dog constituted an improvement. "You've bled through your bandages, Winn. They need to be replaced."

"By you?"

Her quiet incredulity hurt. "Unless you can clean the blood off your own shoulder and dress it…" When she didn't answer, he angled his head so he could look down at her. He could see she was thinking, considering his offer, weighing whether or not she could trust him to see to her wellbeing in even this small matter.

Honestly, he didn't know whether he wanted her to say no or –

"Alright."

"Excuse me?"

"I said alright."

"Wait a minute." How long had he waited to hear those words from her? Except now he knew the danger of them, knew the responsibility her concession entailed. Now he knew that this was a very bad idea. "I don't think –"

"Jack, please."

How had women perfected that tone of defenseless need? Jack found himself cleaning her wound and wrapping it in clean dressings before he could stop himself. Still, the pirate in him wasn't completely subdued until he peeked over Winn's shoulder. Her knuckles were white where she clenched a towel closed around herself. Her surrender, while given, wasn't given completely and Jack found that no other surrender would do for him.

He pretended not to watch as she dropped the towel to pull another oversized shirt over her head. The graceful line of her back was interrupted by a wide band of white bandages…as if he needed the reminder that she'd been battered.

"Whose shirt is that, lass?" he asked as she turned to face him. He had to do something. He couldn't let her stand there and grow more and more uncertain of what this new level of intimacy between them meant. That wasn't something _he_ wanted to think about for that matter. It was likely best to simply let this night be, a single night when he'd been a man looking after his woman. A simple pleasure, one the pirate only saw as a delay to more interesting things but one that the man in him needed.

"I don't know. It belonged to one of my brothers before their wife made them get rid of it. It seemed a shame to toss something out that'd just been broken in. Besides, they make excellent cover-ups when I'm painting."

"So I see." This shirt had smears of blue, yellow, and brown around the hem. Her eye was going to match it soon.

Jack stayed in Winn's room that night. He stayed awake thinking long after she had fallen into an exhausted sleep. She'd drifted off still holding on to him as she allowed him to hold her loneliness and her pain at bay.

Holding her in his arms and looking down into her sleep smoothed face, Jack realized one important thing that night, and one minor thing. First he realized that he wasn't going to let her go, and that as a result his life would become much more complicated.

Staring into the dark, he wondered, _If that's true, then why the devil am I smiling?_


	20. Chapter 19

**Author's Note:** Well, this update took longer than I was planning, yet not as long as I thought it might. :P It's always a pain to realize how hard it is to break away from what I wrote before. There's a scene in here that was an absolute _nightmare_ to rewrite.

Let me know what you're all thinking. Things are deviating quite a bit from Inconvenient at this point, but I think the changes all fit the story.

Until next time. ;)

* * *

Waking the next morning was like surfacing from deep water. Winn broke the surface of consciousness with a soft sigh and an aborted attempt to stretch. Before she could move anything more than a few inches, her muscles protested and brought her back to full alertness with a speed that made her head throb.

"Oooohhhh…" The throbbing in her temples moved down to her eye, then spread to take up residence in her ribs. She'd slept so soundly during the night that she'd forgotten the beating she'd taken. Even in those handful of moments that she'd started to wake, she'd felt so safe that she'd gone back to sleep.

And why had she felt safe? Winn rediscovered that reason as she burrowed her head into her pillow and ended up burying it beneath her companion's shoulder. That in itself wasn't enough to startle her, not when she so often had her nieces and nephews sharing her bunk. What reached through to her fuzzy brain was the scent of salt, and sweat, and man that filled her senses.

Her hand spasmed, clutching tight a roll of worn fabric. Her fist rose and fell with the pattern of another's breath.

_Jack._ She propped herself up on her forearms and stared at the man sharing her bed. It was too much to believe that he was really there. Why should he be?

_He shouldn't. He should be gone. I provided all the distraction he needed to slip away unnoticed, but here he is. **Still** is. There was no reason for him to stay the night, no reward for him to gain._ Winn couldn't trick herself into believing that she'd done all she could to drive him away the night before. There were a number of things she could said, a number of truths she could have shared, too many lies to count that should have told – all of which would have had him running for the Point and the first ship leaving the harbor. But she hadn't.

_Why_ hadn't she?

Winn studied his sleeping face. In repose he was not innocent, not younger, but unguarded. His face was clear of worry. God help her, the man wasn't even snoring.

_I don't regret what happened between us last night. Not the_ _outburst or even the subsequent tears._ At some point during the night, at some point when she'd been wrapped in his arms and the down comforter that was now tangled around her hips and legs, she'd found a measure of peace.

That should have been enough to unsettle her. It wasn't though. What she felt was remarkably at ease, moreso than she had in months. She brushed her fingers against the hair that still remained on his chin, watched and waited as his head turned in her direction. She didn't know what she'd do if he woke, but he didn't, so the point was moot.

_I'll have to deal with Grandfather today._ Today was the only day she'd hold any advantage over the man at all; today when she was still bruised and moving slowly to pacify her aching body. He'd have to be made of stone to deny her carefully worded requests when he had to meet her black eye and face her bruised countenance. Today, while he was still reeling in shock, was the only day she could convince him to overturn his edict.

_That or he'll be so outraged over the violence offered me that he'll attempt to have me married before noon and **I'll** be one the escaping on the first ship leaving the Point…with Grandmother's map!_ She cursed herself for being seven different kinds of fool for forgetting about that map. Hadn't her grandmother foreseen this entire debacle and given her a way out already? Good lord, this situation with Sparrow had muddled her brain to the point of making her stupidly helpless.

Carefully disentangling herself from a sleeping Jack, Winn crept out of bed. Pige was immediately dancing around her feet as she crouched on the floor. She watched Jack to make sure she hadn't disturbed him, then bit her lip as she forced cramped muscles to straighten along with her posture. The room spun around her for a moment. It had been a little over eighteen hours since she had last eaten, and after the exertions of yesterday she was feeling weak on her feet. She waited for the room to stop reeling before she tried to move, lest she trip over her own feet.

While she stood there, she realized that someone was knocking on her door and had been for some time. _Who is so persistent this early in the morning? _It couldn't be any of the young ones – they would have resorted to yelling by now. By that reasoning she could also rule out any of her adult relatives who would either being issuing orders through the door or who would have gone to find a key to it long ago.

Winn sought out her robe and carefully pulled it on. She mourned the loss of her slippers which had fallen off sometime during the wild ride back to the Rest. Alex and Richie had been silent, but the speed they'd used to bear her home had shouted their worry for any who cared to listen. She appreciated their haste, but wished they'd managed to keep her slippers with her.

_No you don't. You wore holes in them yesterday with all your pointless wandering._

_That's right…_

The carpet that dominated most of the floor padded her poor sore feet – was there a part of her that _wasn't_ sore? – as she made her slow, wobbly way to the door.

"You ridiculous bird," Winn hissed as she barred her grandfather's flamingo from entering her room. "Why aren't you asleep? It's barely light out yet." The bird ignored her question of course. He simply gave her door one last peck for good measure, then opened his beak as if he were going to start honking at her if she didn't let him in. Winn clapped her hands around his beak and roughly pulled him into the room. She grumbled as she then retrieved the hot water some thoughtful maid had left outside her room before once again closing and locking her door. This was hardly a scene that she wanted anyone stumbling upon by accident, or even by design for that matter.

She watched as Marty inspected every corner of the room as if he suspected her of hiding something good to eat. For several seconds he considered Pige, as if he were so hungry as to eat the pup. "Trust me. I doubt you would enjoy the experience." Marty looked at her quizzically. Shaking her head, she asked herself, "And why am I talking to a bird as if I expect it to care about what I'm saying?"

Winn glanced at her bed again, her mind confused as she saw Jack was still asleep. Was it better for him to stay asleep, or should she wake him and send him on his way before it was too late for him to leave? As it was, he was quickly losing any sort of advantage he'd had. Time was against him now.

_If I let him sleep late, he won't have another chance to leave until tonight. At least until tonight and possibly not for several days._ As much as she knew it shouldn't, the thought pleased her. Another day of seeing him here. And as it might be his last day, perhaps she wouldn't keep her distance from him. Perhaps she'd make an effort to be…

Oh, who was she kidding? She needed help.

She moved across the room and threw open the window before she gave into the temptation to return to bed. As she settled herself she allowed one leg hang out the window. The other she bent at the knee and leaned on as she watched the sun rise. Marty came to stand by her for company and turned his attention to preening his feathers. Her thoughts drifted as she watched the sea change colors under the rising sun. Almost absently, she picked up a recorder from a nearby table and fidgeted with it until she settled on a song. Marty finished his grooming and began to pick at the skirt of her robe, behaving like the harmless nuisance that he was.

Her music woke Jack slowly, his awareness pierced by the sweetness of her notes. Without bothering to announce that he had awoken he sat up in the bed and watched Winn as she sat in the window. The morning sun cast a pure light upon her skin, a breeze tugged on tresses that'd escaped her nighttime braid like a lover playing with the hair of his beloved. Parts of the song she played seemed familiar, but before he could name the melody she'd introduce a theme he'd never heard before.

Looking around in much the same way that Winn had earlier, Jack found the sketchbook. Quietly getting up, he picked it up from the trunk on which it was resting. He quickly flipped through it to a blank page. Settling back down on the bed, he started to draw Winn as she sat in the window, her gaze unfocused and pointed out to sea as if she longed to be elsewhere.

Slowly Winn stopped playing, her notes fading and falling into disharmony even as they were played. Her head fell back against the casing, and she let out a low sigh of dissatisfaction.

Seeing this, Jack got up and moved over towards her – not that he knew what he was planning to do. This whole situation was as new to him as it was for her. He simply stood at her side, waiting for some cue from her. He didn't have to wait long, for Winn leaned into him, her head coming to rest right below his heart.

Without opening her eyes, she said with a faint trace of humor in her voice, "Those who were born to hang will never drown."

_Not battle then. _"I don't think things have gotten as bad as that yet, luv."

"So say you." Winn listened to Jack's heart, listened to its beating. Bringing her recorder to her lips, she played a few bars of her song before stopping. "Things are looking…unpleasant…from where I'm sitting."

"Why do you say that?" He waited for several minutes for Winn to answer, but she remained silent, once again playing music to avoid thinking. "Come now, Winnie. What could be so awful that –"

"Why did you come back again, Jack?"

Jack studied the part of her face that he could see. The way she asked the question made it understood that her answers were conditional on his. "I was about to pass over the ridge," he said, sure that she knew the land he spoke of, "when I looked back and saw you in the window."

"You saw me in the window." Her fingers fluttered over the length of the recorder in silent debate. "You couldn't have known it was me."

"I knew." Jack didn't miss the way her breath caught at his quiet confidence. _She wouldn't like that, would she? Knowing that someone knew her so well._ "I always know, Winnie."

"I killed a man last night," she said abruptly, pulling away from him. For a moment she teetered on the narrow pane. Jack wrapped an arm around her before she could even begin to fall and pulled her back into the room.

_That's my Winnie. Always one with a challenge. _Though as challenges went, that was a doozy. Certainly it'd been the first time she was the only one to walk away from a fight; the anguish in her eyes settled any doubts he had on that score. How was he supposed to respond to her without making matters worse? Though he'd certainly find it easier to reply if she'd stop watching him with her big blue eyes.

He wondered if he could cajole her into a better mood. _Of course I can. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow._

"Do you expect me to tell you what an awful person you are, Winnie? I agree that takin' a life shouldn't be done lightly, but if you were driven to kill a man then he richly deserved it. Perhaps you ought to thank your grandfather for all that training you regularly disparage."

Winn ignored his suggestion. Right now there was very little that she was willing to thank Morgan for. His foresight was not on that short list.

"It's not a laughing matter, Jack." She looked down at her hands and rubbed her palms against her robe in agitation. "It was awful."

"Are we talking about the miscreant who's responsible for this?" He skimmed his fingertips across her bruised face and she reluctantly nodded. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, delighting in how easily she relaxed into him. "I'm sorry that you were the one to kill him, Winn."

"But not that he's dead."

"Any man who would attack a woman isn't worth regret."

"I thought you were a pirate, Jack Sparrow."

"I thought you were a shrew." It was an easy thing to dip his head and graze his lips across hers. Winn followed after him for more. What could he do but pull her closer? With her cradled safely against his chest, Jack bent his head back down.

Winn sighed at the sweetness of the kiss. It calmed all of the jagged edges inside of her, at least for a time. The night before was supposed to have been a moment out of time. This kiss proved how long a moment could last.

Finally, when Winn started to debate whether she should melt into him or into the floor, Jack pulled away. After nipping her lip one last time he rested his forehead on hers, breathing heavily in much the same way she was. Jack was just about to say something when Marty noticed that no one was giving him his due attention as a beloved household pet. The spoiled bird squawked and grabbed hold of one of the many stands of beads in Jack's hair. Jack yelled as the bird started tugging on it, which woke Pige who started dancing and yapping in excitement.

Winn watched the scene with a kind of fascinated horror as it unfolded before her, her hands covering her mouth. Jack finally pulled free of the determined and slighted bird, glaring at it and thinking evil thoughts of roast poultry.

Then the pounding on her door started.

"Hellfire," Winn whispered. Her own voice broke her out of the paralysis that had overtaken them both. She spun around and started shoving Jack in the direction of the window. "Hurry!" she urged, pushing at him ineffectively.

"Luv, the door's locked –"

"Where there's a lock, there's myriad keys," she hissed as she tried to herd him towards the opening. "Not to mention brothers stubborn enough to wait outside my door until I see fit to come out or one of those keys falls into their hands." She threw her own hands up into the air as Jack refused to budge. "What is it that you're waiting for?"

"Winifred, open the door."

Jack caught her face as she threw a look of desperation at the door. "Why so worried, luv?"

"My brothers will kill you if they find you here. Or..."

"Or…?"  
"Do you _want_ to take a wife today?"

"Point taken. Hand me my hat."

Winn shoved the item into his hands then unnecessarily encouraged him towards the window. Ignoring the repeated commands to open her door – now being bellowed by her grandfather – she anxiously watched as Jack threw a leg over the sill –

"Jack Sparrow! What on earth do you think you're doing?"

Winn and Jack both looked down in disbelief.

"That settles it. Turner's a eunuch. How else do you explain his inability to keep his nosy, busybody, interfering wife in bed?"

"Jack?"

Jack looked up as Winn went pale. "Don't!"

She did. Jack was pulled off balance as he caught the collapsing Winn. They both tumbled to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs just as her bedroom door opened.

"I hate that bloody bird."

* * *

A pistol and a bottle of rum sat squarely in the middle of the desk's broad surface. Jack would have started talking his way out of this latest predicament long ago if it hadn't been for those two items. Their presence indicated that Morgan hadn't yet decided how the day was going to end – with blood or in celebration. If it had just been the rum or simply the pistol – though rum was always preferable – he would have been long gone already. However, as things stood, Jack could do little more than sit and plan for either contingency until Morgan gave away some hint of what his inclinations were.

As for Morgan, he had the air of a man waiting for something. He only paid Jack the barest amount of attention. The rest of his focus directed inward as he worked through is own problems. Jack touched the medallion hanging from a string of beads at his brow and wondered just how much he might have to reveal to escape with his hide intact. After all, this was _the_ Morgan, the man of pirate lore. If Jack brought in the Code, would it be honored?

Though, to bring up the Code, Jack would first have to think of some esoteric rule that applied to his situation and truth be told, he'd never paid too much attention to anything that wouldn't immediately benefit him.

The heavy oak door swung open. Both men looked over – Jack in surprise, Morgan in profound disappointment – as Winn entered the room.

She was pale, her visible bruises appearing all the more brutal against her bleached skin. It should have made her seem fragile; the careful way she carried herself should have made her appear hesitant. The set of her shoulders was proud though and her eyes met his without flinching. Her head was raised in defiance of her grandfather's disappointment in her. If she felt any trepidation, it was impossible to tell.

The full legs of her breeches whispered against each other as she walked across the room and settled into the remaining chair before Morgan's desk. Her heavily embroidered waistcoat acted as another layer of bandaging around her ribs. Its tight fit helped to hold her together and reminded her that his was a time for decorum. Screaming matches wouldn't help her now, the famous Morgan temper she'd inherited would only make her seem hysterical…and who took hysterical women seriously?

Still, her composure wasn't flawless. Jack heard her let out a long hiss as she held herself erect in her chair.

"I have come to negotiate terms," she said in a well-modulated voice.

Just like that, Morgan relaxed. He didn't look happy – in fact, he looked furious – but he was no longer so tightly controlled.

"There's nothin' to negotiate, girl. You'll marry immediately and wi'out fuss."

"I'll not marry immediately or at any other point in the near future," Winn calmly replied, though her fingers curled around the arms of her chair in a white-knuckled grip. "I reserve the right to choose my own husband without interference from my family."

"No man will e'er take you to wife wi'out first receivin' my blessin'!"

The first glimmers of a plan took root in Jack's mind. His eyes grew bright as he stared at Winn and started following the argument more closely. All he needed to do was wait for the right moment. He didn't miss the irony of gaining freedom through losing it.

"That's a double standard. None of my brothers had to ask your permission to marry. None of their wives had to ask for your permission to become part of the great Morgan clan, for that matter. It's unfair that I –"

"None of your brothers were so henwitted as to find themselves in a compromisin' situation."

"So now I'm to blame for being taken from the _Kestrel_."

"I'm talkin' about this morning, girl! And if you'd used your sword the way I taught you to, you'd arrived safely in Port-au-Prince."

"Clearly you've never found yourself diverted by Captain Sparrow…or allowed yourself to properly assess my skills with a blade."

Morgan ignored her aside. "Sparrow has nothing to do with this."

"He's sitting right there! Or is he here to bear witness to our truce?"

"We are _not_ negotiatin'!"

"Then I'm through listening." Winn slowly rose to her feet. If you _gentle_men will excuse me?"

Before she could leave, the door to the study opened again and Captain Beckett stepped inside. The man's eyes lingered a second too long on Winn's bruised face before moving on to his superior. "You wanted to see me, Captain Morgan?" he asked while tactfully keeping his gaze away from Winn.

"You're still agreeable to a match between you and m'granddaughter, Beckett?"

_"Grandfather!"_

_Beckett?_ Jack thought, instantly disliking the man for little more reason than his name. There was no doubt that he and Winn would make a lovely couple, but Winn would drive the man to drink inside a week. No, Winn needed a firm hand that wasn't so evident.

"Yes, sir."  
"Well _I_ am _not_!" Winn couldn't believe this was happening. When she'd come into the room, she'd expected to deal with the threat of marriage, but not to someone she didn't know. She –

"My eldest grandson should return with th' vicar momentarily. The ceremony –"

"And which ceremony is that? Last rites?" Winn growled. "I will not –"

Speaking over her as if her protests were nothing, Beckett bowed to Morgan and said in a respectful voice, "Perhaps the lady and I might have a moment alone so that I might soothe her fears about –"

"Polygamy."

Silence slammed down over the room. Everyone turned to look at Jack in bewilderment, though understanding slowly dawned on Winn's face as she realized what he'd said.

"Pardon me?" Morgan settled his fists on the desk and leaned over it.

Jack lazily rose to his feet. "By all accounts, polygamy can by quite delightful and satisfying – or so I've been told – but I doubt Winnie could manage two husbands when she seems reluctant to admit to having one."

_"Winifred Eleanor Morgan!"_ Henry Morgan roared at the top of his lungs. Winn barely reacted. She was too busy staring at Jack with a quickly softening expression on her face. "Explain yourself _now_, girl! Who the blazes are you married to?"

Jack saw the decision she made and spoke at the same time she did.

"No one."

"Me."

_"No_ one," Winn reiterated. "Captain Sparrow is just trying to help me."

"I'm hurt, luv. I thought that night meant as much to you as it did to me."

"Stop it, Jack. Grandfather, I swear to you: we are not married."

"She's shy." Jack told himself he was pushing for this because it was the perfect escape. No damage to his person, someone left behind to make the necessary explanations and give his regrets, and a proper round of gossip birthed to add to his consequence. Not as epic a story as he usually preferred of course, but there was the added benefit of perhaps gaining Winn for his own. He'd wasn't particularly eager to be wed, but there were ways to get around that, especially if her family already believed them to be man and wife.

"Should have been there, mate…or should I say 'Granddad?' The bloke who conducted the ceremony was especially fine when it came to performing his sacred office of joining two souls in the chains – I mean, _bonds_ – of holy matrimony."

"Nonsense. _You_ performed the so-called ceremony and you were drunk."

"Not nearly so much as you were, luv."

Winn's jaw dropped. "I was not!"

"I didn't hear you saying no."

"Enough!" Morgan brought his fists down on the table hard enough to make everyone jump. "Beckett, leave us. And if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth _shut."_

"Aye, sir. I wouldn't dream of mentioning anything at all of this, I assure you…" Beckett's voice trailed off as the man practically ran from the room.

_Well, there's one suitor I no longer have to worry about,_ Winn observed as she turned back to the man across the desk. "Grandfather –"

"Sit down," the old man snapped. When she hesitated he growled, "That wasn't an invitation."

Resenting the powers she yielded by sitting, Winn returned to her seat. "Grandfather," she tried again, with the same results.

"Is Sparrow telling the truth, lass?"

"Of course I am."

"Well…I wouldn't go that far." When had Jack moved his seat closer to hers? Their thighs were practically touching. "But I suppose in some round-about, incomprehensibly self-serving manner, he's telling some form of a half-truth."

"But Sparrow did indeed complete the ceremony?"

"In a manner of speaking," Winn reluctantly agreed. Why this was so important, she didn't know, just that it _was _important to her grandfather for some reason. The way he held himself made that clear. "But it hardly matters because no man can legally –"

"What bearing does the law have on any of this?" Morgan left his chair and crossed the room. From a shelf hear the hearth he retrieved a book. "Pirates are not bound by law, as you well know, lass. However, that is not the same as saying that they are lawless."

"I fail to see how that effects me. _I'm_ not a pirate. Whatever code they are bound by does not bind me."

"More's the pity."

The look Winn sent Jack's way was not kind. "I'll thank you to be quiet. You've done more than enough here."

"More than enough or not enough, we're not yet through with each other, luv."

"You're unlikely to find truer words," Morgan said as he found whatever he'd been looking for. He handed the book to Winn who hesitated a long time before taking it. "By the Code which governs all pirates, you _are_ Sparrow's wife, and subject to the same Code which bound you to him."

The book – Morgan's own copy of the Code – fell to the ground from Winn's numb fingers. "What?" she croaked, a mere breath after Jack expressed his own surprise.

"Has he finished what he started, girl?" Morgan picked up the book and set it on the desk. His fingers lingered over the over in a small display of reverence.

"I… What?" By her flaming face, Winn knew exactly what she was being asked.

"Has he taken your maiden- "

"No!" Winn shot out of her chair and launched herself across the room. "I can't believe you're taking this so seriously. That ridiculous code doesn't apply to you any more than it does me. Just because you recorded a bunch of lies and idealistic drivel for a pack of illiterate thieves and murderers doesn't give this nonsense any validity."

"Men fought and died under my command because they believed in that 'idealistic drivel,'" Morgan growled. "Besides, it also offers you your only escape."

That sounded anything but promising. "What do you mean?"

"If you're still a virgin, then Sparrow hasn't fulfilled his vow to take you to wife and the marriage can be contested." Morgan had the pistol from his deck trained on Jack before the pirate so much had time to flinch.

"What are you doing?" Winn gasped.

"Contesting the wedding would be my guess," Jack said dryly, though his eyes never left Morgan. _Always knew I should have paid more attention to my da when he harped on about the bloody Code._ "Let's not be rash, he cajoled as he eased out of his chair. All wasn't yet lost. He still had his own gun tucked away at the small of his back. While shooting Morgan was – unfortunately – something that had to be regarded as a last resort, if he could but make his way to Winn –

The -_click­_- of a hammer being drawn back was unnaturally loud. Jack froze before he got himself shot.

Winn was there immediately, between his heart and the pistol. "Stop it! Just stop it!"

"Do you claim Sparrow as your husband, Winifred? Or do I free you from the scoundrel?" Morgan's aim shifted upwards until it rested between Jack's eyes.

"Grandfather…don't do this," Winn whispered.

"Make up your mind, girl. You wanted to decide your own fate. Here's your opportunity. You obviously harbor a tenderness for Sparrow, or we wouldn't be here now. No one forced you to let the scalawag into your room last night. It's your silence then that forces your hand now. Take a husband you've proved you can tolerate or step out of the room and let me do what I should have done this morning."

Responsibility nearly crushed her. Allowing her grandfather to kill Jack wasn't an option, yet neither was allowing Jack any deeper into her life. At least, not as far as her heart was concerned. Loving Sparrow wasn't a rish she was willing to take.

Yet walking away from Jack's lifeless, broken body was equally unacceptable to her.

_Odysseus was lucky. He merely had to navigate the waters between Scylla and Charybdis,_ she thought as she turned to Jack. Her eyes closed and she felt tears on her cheeks when his fingers ghosted across her temple. _He never had to chart a path around the vagaries of his own heart._

"I'll accept him as my husband only if my terms are met."

"You're not in a place to demand terms."

"Deny me and I'll never set foot on Osprey Point again." She turned to Morgan, unable to cope with Jack's surprise that she was willing to barter while his life hung in the balance.

"You're bluffing."

"I've always been a poor card player. Agree to my terms or this is the last time we speak." Morgan didn't acknowledge her threat in any way, but Winn knew he had no choice but to listen to her.

"All hostilities between Jack and any male of his family are now irrelevant. It is unacceptable that my family would feud with the husband they demand I take.

"Secondly, you will send the _Sandpiper_ to Tortuga before day's end to fetch the _Black Pearl_ here. I see no point allying myself with a shipless pirate. If I must take a husband, it will be one who can support me in some manner.

"Thirdly, I insist on a proper ceremony, and not today either." She crushed that hope immediately. "I refuse to attend my own wedding whilst my face is black and blue. The ceremony will take place on the evening of the day after the _Pearl's_ arrival."

"Is that all?"

"Until I am married by a priest, there'll be no talk of Jack and I being husband or wife. Code or no Code, I consider us still to be strangers for the most part. An engagement to marry should be enough to satisfy all parties at this point. Now, if you both would excuse me, I'd like to be alone." Winn left the room.

Morgan set his pistol on the desk and looked at Jack. "You have your work cut out with her."

Jack had not looked away from Winn as she had left. Still staring at the door that was once again closed, he said in a distracted tone. "Work? Nay, I think that this will be a pleasure."

"Yours or hers?"

"With any luck, both." He stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I have someone I need to speak to."

* * *

Winn had locked the door to her room. She was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling in benumbed shock. _He did it. He actually did it. Forced me into marriage._ She heard someone trying the knob to her door. It rattled in the door, but refused to turn. Footsteps retreated from the entrance to her room.

She assumed that whoever it was had left, understanding that she didn't wish to be disturbed. She was proven wrong when the footsteps came back. "Winnie? Will you let me in?" Winn snorted. If that…_man_…thought that he'd be seeing her before she could ship him off, then he had another thing coming.

"I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone right now, Jack. Especially not you."

"You're not going to let me in?"

"No, I don't believe I am."

Jack was silent for a moment before inquiring, "Are you standin' near the door?" Winn didn't answer. The question was irrelevant. Both their lives had just changed – and not for the better as far as she could see – and the man wanted to know where she was standing? "Are you standin' near the door, Winnie?"

"Will you stop asking stupid questions if I answer?"

"I won't need to."

"Then fine. I'm not standing near the door. Go away." Winn expected that to be the end of the conversation, therefore she was completely surprised when Jack shot the lock off her door.

Sitting bolt upright in surprise, she reached for a nearby vase of flowers on her nightstand. Kneeling on the bed, she hurled it at the intruder with all her might, flowers and water spilling everywhere.

Her aim was good, but Jack's reflexes were faster. As she searched for another suitably heavy object to throw at him, Jack calmly placed a chair in front of the door to block the entrance. Before he could turn from this task, a rather large book sailed by his head and slammed into the door. Cursing, he lunged across the room before she could attempt to remove his head with another book. Landing on the bed, they started to grapple, Winn fighting with all the pent up anger that she had been unable to release before her grandfather.

While she fought hard, Jack was bigger and stronger than she. He managed to subdue her, both of them ending up lying on their sides. While she ignored her injuries in her anger, Jack took care in how he pinned her arms. "Calm down, Winnie," he panted as he wrapped his arms around her. "I must admit that I was hoping for a different reception."

"You wanted a different reception?!" _The nerve of the man!_ "What did you expect?! This is all your fault!"

"I said that I was _hopin'_ for another reaction. The one I _got_ was the one that I was expecting."

"If you're so smart, they why couldn't you find your own way out of that mess? Why did you have to drag me into it?"

"Because I was hopin' you'd come to my rescue, love."

Seeing as how Winn's back was pressed to Jack's chest, she couldn't even look him in the eye as she argued with him, she settled for biting commentary instead. "You're telling me that Captain Jack Sparrow, terror of the seven seas, captain extraordinaire, and the self-proclaimed 'last _real_ pirate threat in the Caribbean,' was waiting to be saved by a woman?" Winn laughed in disbelief. "Please excuse me if I don't believe you."

_Why am I not surprised? _"Winnie, you are an exceptionally stubborn woman. What makes you think I didn't come out of that study with exactly what I wanted?"

"Your head intact?"

"See, there you go again, being negative."

"Being practical." Winn managed to free one arm. With her increased mobility she pinched the tendons in Jack's wrist. When his hand opened reflexively, she rolled out of his grasp. She didn't bother rolling far – he'd already proved that he'd do what he had to in order to talk to her. Sitting up against the headboard, she glared at the man. "You don't need to manhandle anyone, Captain. I think you've made your point, and I'd rather this be as civilized as possible."

"I'm not the one that started throwing things at people who wanted to talk to me."

"Yes, well, _I'm_ not the one who shot the lock off of someone's door just because they _refused_ to talk to me."

Jack shrugged, unwilling to admit she had a point. "You're going to need to learn to control that temper of yours, love. I don't fancy living the rest of my days with a termagant."

Winn narrowed her eyes. "Are you under the impression that this sham of an engagement actually changes anything between us, Captain?"

"Marriage usually does."

"You're actually going to stick around for the wedding?"

"I didn't think I had a choice."

Winn shook her head in growing confusion, her anger taking a backseat for the moment. "Weren't you listening to me in there?"

Jack started at Winn in puzzlement. She was definitely trying to avoid something. "Of course I was. To what part are you referring?" He watched as Winn's eyes grew blank with shock.

"We won't be married until after the _Pearl_ arrives. I deliberately set the terms so that you could leave before the ceremony." Winn was silent for a moment, but quickly gathered both her thoughts and her composure. Smoothing the befuddlement from her face, she went on. "Well. I'm glad we got that cleared up then. Now you know that you can leave as soon as the _Pearl_ arrives…" Winn trailed off as Jack reached over and took her hand.

"It seems that I'm not the only one around here with impressions. It's starting to sound as if you think I don't want to marry you."

"Of course that's what I think," Winn laughed nervously. "What would you gain by marriage to me?"

"Just what is it that you think that I could find to replace you?"

"Well…" Winn was having a hard time thinking. Things weren't supposed to end this way. He was supposed to leave and she was supposed to remain here even if her heart screamed refusals at the thought.

Jack saw that she was flustered. Scooting up the bed to sit by her, he started talking. "You see, love, I've lived my life based on choices, living for the opportune moment. Basing choices between mercy and malice, between friendship and revenge, between what I wanted and what I needed. Often I chose things for their expediency – whatever would get me what I wanted the fastest – or for their ease. It is a rare occasion indeed that I base choices on anything else."

"What are you saying, Jack?" Winn had focused her gaze on their entwined fingers. She had noticed that the shades of their skin nearly matched, and wondered if Jack's tan was due to more than the sun.

"I'm saying that when it comes to you, Winifred Morgan, I've made a choice based solely on what I think I need." He brought their entangled hands up to her chin, prodding her to look at him.

"Jack, would you please just spit out whatever it is that you're trying to say? You're making me nervous." Exasperation was starting to break through that same nervousness, making Winn bold. "What is it that you want?"

It was the wrong question to ask Jack. As soon as the words had left her mouth, Winn saw their effect in his eyes. It made her think of the times that he had asked her the same thing. Her breath caught in her throat as Jack leaned into her personal space again, his nearness underscoring his words. "You. I want you. I need you, Winnie. I don't know why, and I can't begin to comprehend how I came to need an ornery, stubborn, hot-tempered woman anymore than I think you can. But the truth is the same." His voice, which was already low, took on a resolute and decidedly possessive tone. "You're mine, Winnie. I never would have agreed to a wedding if I hadn't accepted that."

Winn started shaking her head, unsettled by his words and the bare emotion in his voice. "You don't mean that. You can't mean that."

"Why can't I, luv?"

"Because you'll be leaving –"

"Not before I've made you mine."

Jack's voice had returned to normal, giving Winn the courage to argue with him. "You can't do that! You'll still be leaving. You'll return to the _Pearl_, and…and…"

"Winnie, look at me." She obeyed, trying to hide the fact that she was distraught. "What makes you think that I'll be leavin' you ashore? After all this fuss I intend on enjoying my new bride for some time to come."

Before the words had died, Jack leaned forward to kiss the woman he had inexplicably come to love, demanding silently that she respond to him in the same way he did to her. She complied, her head tilting into the kiss, her hands coming up to twine locks of his hair about her fingers. He gladly followed her lead, his own hands burying themselves in her hair, using their grip to tilt her head this way and that. He felt her nails graze his scalp as she tightened her hold in pleasure.

Winn was refusing to let her brain analyze the situation. All that mattered was that she was being kissed by a man she cared for, who promised to not leave her behind for the call of the sea. _But for how long? And how much damage will he wreak before leaving you behind to deal with the pain? _wondered her rebellious mind.

Pulling away slightly, Winn tried to silence the voice. Jack continued to kiss her; her eyes, her cheekbones, her jaw, her temples. _I don't have to love him._

No, she didn't have to, but she knew that she would. And she also knew that Jack would know when she did and that would be the end. He'd leave before love could curtail the life he preferred to leave. It was a rare man that found love more precious than freedom, and she wasn't willing to take that risk on Jack.

"Jack…"

"Marry me, Winnie." Jack wasn't used to pleading, but he would if it would convince Winn of his sincerity.

"Jack, stop. Please." Something in her voice reached Jack's brain – the stirrings of panic held at bay in her voice. He pulled away, frustration eating at him. Elizabeth hadn't been joking when she had said that he would have to work hard convince Winn of the fact he wanted her with him.

"What is it, lass? If you're waiting for roses and poetry and a ring, I'm afraid you're out of luck." He tried to bring a bit of levity to the moment, grinning his normal grin even if the normal mockery was absent from it.

Winn shook her head. "That's not it. I just want to make sure that you know what you're doing. I'm not whoever you think it is that I am. I can't –" Jack placed his fingers over her lips as he had once before.

"Truth may make men do stupid things, but I'm not so truthful as to mistake what I want. I may twist the truth at times, bend it to work to my advantage, but I rarely lie outright. Love may make men stupid, but I'm not so used to it that it would dull my wits. If I say I want to spend my life with you, you need to take that at face value and believe that I find worth in you even if you don't. Forget your parents, Winnie. I'm not your father, and you're not your mother, and we do not have their relationship."

_How does the man manage to know exactly what I'm thinking? It's unnatural._

Jack saw her bewilderment and guessed where it came from. "Your thoughts are written plainly on your face."

Winn stuck out her tongue at him, and then recoiled as he tried to catch it. "Stop it."

"Say you'll marry me and I'll consider it." Jack captured her open mouth before she could answer. He wanted the chance to persuade her before allowing her to surrender. His hands wandered over her hips and ribs, unerringly finding each of her aches. His fingers found and teased the soreness from tense muscles; his lips adored each bruise on her face before traveling down her jaw. One hand slipped up to work on the buttons keeping her collar high up on her neck.

"Yes, I'll marry you." Winn grabbed at his hands before he could entrap her in his special brand of insanity. "Please stop. It hurts."

Jack stopped and looked at her, his hands still resting just above her hips. "It hurts?"

"Yes."

"I could show you some things that would make you forget all about the pain." Jack kissed her right beneath her ear, making her gasp in surprise.

"I think that might have to wait."

"Why?" Jack was still trying to persuade Winn to stay on the bed with him.

"Because there's someone in the door – the one that _you_ blew the lock off of. Let me up." Jack looked up to find the same blond man that had returned Winn to the house last night watching them with amusement. Deciding it couldn't hurt to make clear where he stood when it came to Winn, Jack kissed her deeply one last time before letting her up.

Winn was about ready to die of embarrassment. It was one thing to be caught alone with a man in her room. It was another entirely to be caught on a bed with a man, even if they both had been upright still. Trying to bring some order to her hair, Winn asked, "Alex, what are you doing here already? I wasn't expecting you."

"That much is obvious, sweetheart. It appears that you have more of a tale to tell than I imagined."


	21. Chapter 20

**Author's Note:** Well, what with summer jobs, family visiting, a few commissions, and the last Harry Potter book, I've a had a hard time of it this chapter. And that was without the huge case of writer's block halfway through. :P Then there's my obsession with Stephenie Meyers' _Twilight_ series even though I've only gotten my hands on book one. I'm waiting on pins and needles for my set of all three to come in the mail. (Yay Amazon!)

However, I think this is a pretty good chapter. It has one of my very favorite Jack/Will scenes (though any scene between Jack and Will is one of my favorites. ;P) and the ending was one quite different than I've ever written before. It was a surprise to me to find that the chapter ended that way.

Anyway, it's been much too long since my last update, and I won't keep you any longer. Go read. ;)

* * *

"What in the world were you doing down by the harbor last night when you had something like that here to keep you warm?" Alex demanded as Winn shoved him into a downstairs parlour and locked the door behind them. Not that he needed much convincing to stay. He would have turned the key if she hadn't; there was no way he'd let her evade telling _this_ story.

"Alex, my entire family has gone insane. You can't join them, not when I need help. As my choices seem to be you or Elizabeth, I'd prefer –"

"Elizabeth? The fabled Elizabeth Swann is here and you haven't introduced us? I'm desolate, sweetheart. After everything you've told me about her, I know we'd get along famously."

"Alex! I need you to focus! If I can't figure a way out of this fiasco –"

"And what fiasco would that be?"

Normally, Winn preferred to be the one doing all the interrupting. As she glared at her friend she ground out, "That man upstairs is my titular fiancé."

"That's unfortunate."

Winn sighed in relief. Finally, someone who understood what she was going through. "Those are my feelings on the matter, yes."

"No, I mean it's hard to carry on an illicit romance when you're about to formalize the relationship."

"Alex!"

Alex studied Winn's face for a long time. That he'd found his friend acting like a smitten woman for the first time since he'd known her had been a shock. Teasing her about it had come naturally even if he still hadn't decided how he felt about her having a man in her life. Her feelings on the matter though were quite clear. "You're not joking. This is actually making you unhappy."

"How am I supposed to feel? He's a pirate." That at least stunned Alex and Winn had the rare pleasure of watching his jaw drop, though he regained control of it all too soon.

"Your grandfather allowed you to betroth yourself to a pirate?" He winced as Winn shook her head. "Your grandfather _enforced_ a betrothal between you and…? Wait. That's Jack Sparrow up there, isn't it. That's why the Captain is forcing the issue."

"You almost sound approving, Alex."

"It's not as if I just caught you objecting to the man's advances, Freddy. And he certainly seems determined to marry you."

"How long were you standing in my doorway?"

"Long enough."

Winn made a sound of disapproval as she started to pace the room. "Lust does not a good argument for marriage make. Besides, it's not marriage he's interested in. It's ownership. Possession. He wants me because I've struck his fancy. If I actually allow myself to be so foolish as to marry him, I'll soon find myself the very _un_fancied wife of a hunted man. That doesn't strike me as a rosy future."

The two friends were quiet. Winn paced restlessly as she tried to tuck her insecurities away where they couldn't weaken her. Alex leaned against the door and watched Winn, his eyes guarded as he tried to guess what was going on in her mind. He'd seen her agitated before, but never like this. Normally when Winn was upset, she went looking for a fight. With Sparrow just upstairs, she had a ready target for her anxiety, but rather than use it she was fighting with herself instead, and that wasn't her nature. That change told him how she felt about her fiancé but it also worried him. Winn didn't agonize over choices, she acted.

"So what are you going to do?"  
"You mean, what are _we_ going to do."

"Oh no. I'm not going to get caught up in another one of your schemes, Freddy." Alex made a token attempt at putting her off though he knew that in the end he'd do whatever she asked of him. "Even if I didn't have a personal policy about getting between feuding lovebirds – not to mention standing between your family and something they wanted – the way your last scheme ended would have me begging off."

"Who's scheming?" Winn propped her hands on her hips. "You owe me, Thompson."

"Who saved whose life last night?"

"Alex, I can't stay here! Between Jack and Grandfather I'll find myself married within the week."

"I like my good health. If I'm going to cross your family I'll need a good reason, sweetheart."

"He's a pirate. I should think the reasons would be obvious. Besides being shunned by society if anyone ever found out, there's the good chance that being caught aboard the _Pearl_ or being seen on it could mean my life."

"I meant a _personal_ reason, Freddy. _You _don't care about society and _I_ don't care about the hair-raising scenarios you can invent." He pointed towards the ceiling. "I want to know what kind of threat the man you were snuggled up against represents to you."

Winn swallowed hard and turned her back on Alex. She didn't want him to see the memories of gentle hands and adoring kisses his words raised. "He'll make me love him," she whispered. "I don't know how you get much more personal than that."

"Love is so terrible then that you have to flee it?"

"No. Love is…amazing." She knew it was because she also knew the pain of not being loved in return. There'd already been one man in her life who clumsily handled what love she had to give.

"Do you love him?"

"Love him?" Winn sounded lost. "Loving Jack would be… But who would love me if I loved him? I can't stand for being seen as a momentary distraction when I'm risking all in return. I know myself too well. I can be…passionate. It's tempting to throw myself at Jack and damn the consequences, but I can see those consequences so clearly in my mind. In the end I just can't take the risk."

"It sounds to me as if it may already be too late."

Winn shook her head. "Right now I'm in love with who I wish Jack were, not with who he is. That sounds silly, doesn't it?"

_As if that invalidates how she feels. _"Come here." Alex wrapped his arms around her when she obeyed. "What do you want to do?"

"What do you think I should do?" Winn asked her friend. Despite his foolish behavior he was an intelligent man. He could give her sound advice.

"You said what you fear might happen if you marry Jack. What might happen if you don't?"

"I'll never see him again."

"And is that worse than what might happen if you marry him?"

"I don't know. Though I guess I should take into consideration Grandfather's wrath when I slip through the preacher's noose."

"You could always marry someone else."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me." Winn closed her eyes. "All I want is a comfortable, risk-free love. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Yes."

"Hm. I suppose it's a good thing I have an alternate plan then."

"And what plan would that be?"

"What are you doing for the next few months, Alex?"

"Why?" His tone was low and guarded, the voice of someone who knew her too well.

"Well you see, I have this map…."

* * *

Jack stayed in Winn's room after she left. He was oblivious to the whispers of the young Morgans who kept wandering past the door and to the glowers of Winn's brothers who were waiting just outside the door for him. Jack had more important things on his mind.

_Who is that man?_ He didn't like the way that Winn reacted to him, or the way that he was able to capture her attention just by showing up. _Not that I'm jealous. I'm the one that Winnie is marrying._ Of course, Winn was also newly claimed territory, and one that was quite reluctant to surrender. Jack wasn't a fool. This morning wasn't the end to their battles for control. Just because Winn had agreed to marry him once under duress and once under caress didn't mean she was resigned to their eventual union. Jack on the other hand couldn't have been more pleased. It looked like he had finally caught Winnie. He didn't even mind that marriage had been the trap. He may have liked being thoroughly disreputable, but Winnie only half enjoyed it. If he had to marry her to keep her, so be it. He had every confidence that he could make marriage just as disreputable as simply shacking up with someone. It'd take creativity, but that was one thing he'd never lacked.

He looked up from his thoughts as Will pushed himself to the front of the que forming outside the door and inspected what was left of the lock. "I see the little woman sent you in to satisfy her curiosity."

Will ignored the gibe against Elizabeth...especially as Jack wasn't far off the mark. "I see you decided to forgo keys once again, Jack."

"Don't look at me, mate. The last two cells I broke out of were all your doing."

Will looked up, semi-indignant. "Were not."

"When you broke me out of jail and that idea of yours to load the _Interceptor's_ cannon with silverware. I certainly didn't come up with that. I might have, given the time and resources…" Jack shrugged, "…or lack of resources, as the case may be. However, the fact remains that you have a worse record with destroying locks than I do."

Will grinned. "I notice you didn't say 'evading locks.'"

"Of course not. That's because I know how to pick a lock without destroying it."

"It certainly doesn't look that way." Surveying Winn's bedroom door skeptically, Will said, "I'm afraid to ask why it was necessary to shoot the lock off Winn's door."

Both men ignored the growling of Winn's brothers. Jack came over to stand by the younger man and slung an arm around his shoulders. "That, my friend, is a story best told over a good bottle of rum."

"And the door?"

"I decided it would be more impressive than simply picking the lock."

Will nodded apologetically to Ry as he helped Jack pass through the group. These Morgans were a prickly bunch and he didn't want to get on their bad side as long as he was dependant on their hospitality. As for Jack…well, Jack had never been on their good side.

It didn't take long for the two men to "liberate" a bottle of rum from the kitchen. They decided to go back to Jack's room with it, Will refusing to let his quarters start smelling like the stuff. Elizabeth's pleasure from hearing Jack's side of the story wouldn't be enough to offset her displeasure at returning to a room that smelled like a tavern.

"That woman is no fun, William m'boy. How she can dislike rum…" Jack shook his head as the two men settled into comfortable seats. "It just breaks my heart. Where is the little woman, anyway? It's rare to find you two apart these days."

"The same could be said of you and Winn," Will dryly observed. "And speaking of Winn, Elizabeth's trying to pin her down for a good questioning."

"Winn's being uncooperative then?"

"Winn knows Elizabeth. She's probably in hiding, for all the good it'll do her. When I left her, Elizabeth was talking about bribing the children to find their aunt for her. Can you imagine having fourteen children in one family? Frankly, I think it's giving Elizabeth ideas." Jack and Will both shuddered, one from a lifelong evasion of children, the other from the thought of becoming a father. "Don't get me wrong, Jack. I wouldn't mind having children with Elizabeth some day, just not now."

"I completely understand."

Will looked at Jack as if he had grown a horn in the middle of his forehead. "What do you mean 'you understand'? It's not as if you're in a position of imminent fatherhood."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, lad." Jack saw Will's eyes widen in astonishment which quickly changed to anger.

"Please tell me you haven't gotten Winn pregnant." Jack spewed his mouthful of rum across the room at the request. "Tell me that's not the reason you had to shoot the lock off her door."

"Bloody 'ell, Will! Watch yer tongue! Of course I haven't gotten Winnie pregnant! What do you take me for?"

"A pirate, as you seem so fond of pointing out."

"I may be pirate, but I have more sense than to go sleepin' with women who'll hold me accountable for such things."

Will was beginning to relax. "So you and Winn haven't…" He gestured vaguely. A faint hint of rose highlighted his cheekbones as he tried to get past the idea of what he was intimating.

Jack was amused by Will's discomposure. "No. Which is not to say that we won't. In fact, I'd say it's merely a matter of time now." It was enjoyable to rattle the boy's cage. He responded so predictably.

"Jack, you can't just go around seducing respectable ladies."

Jack widened his eyes in faux innocence. "Who said she was respectable? Or anything about seducing her? In fact I can honestly say that this is all her grandfather's idea."

"Captain Morgan wants you to bed his granddaughter?" Will's voice was rife with skepticism. "Pull the other one." He took another sip of rum, grimacing as it burned his throat.

_Clearly the boy needs more opportunities to drink._ When he was certain that he wasn't going to make Will choke, Jack said glibly, "Would I lie to you, Will?"

"In a heartbeat."

The boy had him there. "Well, it just so happens that I am _not_ lying. Foolish thing to do, lie about bedding a woman like Winnie. Likely to lead to all sorts of distasteful repercussions. Captain Morgan wants me to marry Winnie. Pass the rum."

It took Will a moment to realize what Jack had said. When he did, his grip loosened on the bottle. Jack had been prepared for this and was able to catch the bottle before it hit the floor.

"Tell me that you're not suggesting what I think you are." Will's mind was boggling. The very idea that Jack might marry was only marginally less outlandish than the idea that he was getting married to _Winn_. He'd never seen two people more determined to remain single.

Jack took a drink of the rum, once again marveling at the quality of the stuff before answering Will. With a self-assured smirk on his face, Jack said, "I'm not suggestin' anything of the sort, lad." Will seemed to sag with relief. As he took his own turn with the bottle, Jack said, "What I'm telling you is that Winnie and I are getting hitched as soon as she can arrange it." For the second time that day, rum was spewed across the room.

* * *

Winn was too busy planning her escape to pay attention to the time. With Morgan's charts and maps spread out in front of her, she was carefully planning a route from Osprey Point to…well, somewhere on the southern tip of Italy. That would be as good a starting place as any. She'd have plenty of time to really examine Isabella's map once she was safely aboard ship and sailing as far from Jack…

Drat. She'd done so well to avoid thinking about him until now.

Winn turned her mind back to plotting with a firmer resolve, but it wasn't more than a few minutes later when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. _Anyone who would knock at this point is no one I need to concern myself with._ Frankly, she was surprised her family hadn't ferreted her out yet. The sun was setting, a sure sign that dinner was likely due to begin within the hour. While hungry, she had no intention of showing up. She could just see how the meal would progress – the tense smiles, false congratulations, the entire family trying to pretend that her marriage wasn't being forced due to a shocking lack of discretion on her part.

_No thank you._

"What in the world are you working on?" Cat, Grace, Sarah, and Elizabeth were all looking at Winn curiously. Cat headed the group, which didn't bode well. It meant the women had spent the afternoon talking and questioning the circumstances of Winn's engagement. And if there was something Winn dreaded facing more than a family dinner, it was a inquisition led by the female members of the family.

"I'm afraid explaining would take more time than we have before dinner starts."

"Try a short explanation."

"I'm looking at maps," Winn said flatly, unimpressed with Cat's…well, it wasn't really bullying, but she did sound remarkably like Ry at his most "brotherly." Winn circled around the table to place herself between it and the women. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"You're the one getting married. We thought we'd be the ones making that offer."

"Does that mean you're going to go downstairs and knock the smug smile off Grandfather's face for me?"

"Winn, Morgan is not relishing this. Don't you think that he'd have picked a different potential son-in-law if he'd had his druthers?"

"What's wrong with Jack?" Elizabeth demanded, hands on her hips.

"We're not talking about a harmless flirtation anymore," Winn retorted. I don't see you trading Will in for Jack."

"Yes, well, I don't love Jack," Elizabeth backpedaled. "And speaking of Jack, you're not planning to wear _that_ to dinner, are you?"

"Excellent redirection," Winn muttered as she looked down at her outfit. In her mind's eye her tattered skirt and shapeless shirt were replaced by the kind of dress that made a man's blood run hot. Then the vision collapsed. Who was she kidding? She was a mess. There was no need to put too fine a point on the matter by trying to pretend otherwise.

"Why shouldn't I wear this?"

The women all exchanged glances. "Winn, even in your condition you have more flattering things to wear," Sarah carefully said. "I should know – I sewed most of them myself."

"It's my face that isn't flattering, not your skill, Sarah."

"Come now, the swelling's gone down, the bruises are already yellowing out, and that cut on your lip will be virtually unnoticeable with a judicious application of rouge," Cat said and Winn knew from the tone of her voice that any arguments she made from this point forward would be ignored. "I think that between the five of us, we can make you presentable."

"I still don't see why you're bothering," Winn muttered as she was herded out of the room. The only good thing about this – as far as she could see – was that no one was wondering about what she'd been doing in her studio.

"You're getting married."

"Not tonight."

"You really don't have a clue about men, do you, Winn?" Elizabeth slipped her arm through Winn's as they descended the stairs.

"The only men I've had extensive dealings with are either family or cowed by the Morgan name, so no, I suppose I haven't. And I was perfectly content to let things stay that way."

Everyone else exchanged glances…again. "As I was saying," Elizabeth continued as if Winn weren't being ridiculous, "you're clearly in need of some guidance."

"I'd be comforted if your tone didn't terrify me."

"Think of it as an adventure."

"Strangely, I find I've had my fill of adventure."

Elizabeth stopped them and made her friend face her. The rest of the women kept walking, probably so that they could gather their arsenal before Winn could think of another reason to put them off. "Winn! Try to stop worrying. You're going to be alright. Everything will work out the way it's supposed to."

"You're the first person to tell me that," Winn whispered, surprised at how good it felt to be reassured rather than told how to feel. "Everyone is acting like this is nothing, and it's not nothing. It's something."

"Of course it is. And it should be. What you're feeling is normal."

Winn thought about the plans lying half-finished in her studio. She didn't think "normal" described her state of mind, but for a moment she was tempted to pass off her anxiety as a bride's jittery nerves. What would it be like to anticipate a joined future rather than plot for a future where she would still be alone? The temptation to find out told her all she needed to know.

If only there was a way to have Jack as well as the distance she felt was necessary to secure herself against the disappointment that would invariably come.

"Winn?"

"Hm?" She hadn't realized that she'd lapsed into silence. From the concern on Elizabeth's face she gathered that she must have been staring into space for some time.

"Are you coming?"

"Yes…yes."

* * *

Of all the things that Winn was expecting of the night, an escort to dinner wasn't one of them. Or rather, she expected an escort, just not the man who lounged in her doorway, waiting to fulfill his duty. Though she should have. History showed that Jack always appeared when she least expected him.

However, his presence was less than welcome.

"Does it really take you this long to get ready for a family meal, or are you stalling?" he asked as she pointlessly made minute adjustments to her clothing. She would have fussed with her hair, but it was pulled into a loose chignon at the base of her skull…and raising her arms that high hurt.

"You could always go down without me," she said sweetly, a bit maliciously. Just because she was stalling was no reason he had to point it out.

"And face your brothers alone? No thank you."

"What do you mean?" Winn asked, concerned despite herself. "I made Grandfather promise –"

"And you think your brothers will be called off so easily?"

"I can't imagine why not. After all, they're not party to the looks you're giving me right now." Winn watched in the mirror as Jack's eyes snapped up from where they'd been lingering somewhere around her waist. The way she held his gaze as she carefully draped a shawl over her shoulders was a challenge, a reminder that he could look but he wouldn't find it so easy to touch.

"Cold?" he wryly inquired in response to her challenge.

"Frigid." Still, he was solicitous, waiting until she had stepped past him to rest a hand on the small of her back to guide her down then hall to the stairs.

"All the more reason for you to sit close to me at dinner then. It'd be a pleasure to warm you up."

"Perish the thought. Your charm, not to mention your time, would be better spent in an attempt to win over your future in-laws."

"Your sisters love me."

"But it was my brothers we were discussing, and they hold you in the same regard as I do."

"Things are as bad as all that, eh?"

"Growing worse by the minute."

"And your blond friend's regard? Where do I stand there?" Jack slowed their progress down the stairs.

"Alex? Is that what this is about?" Winn considered all the things she could say. "He knows my thoughts on the matter."

"But what are his?" Jack let his eyes take a lazy inventory of her form before returning them to her face.

His meaning was inescapable. "Jealous?" she asked, her voice a bit shrill. If she'd decided to actually marry Jack, this short of behavior would have alarmed her. The last thing she needed was a husband who would try to dictate who she could befriend.

"Yes."

His apparent honesty made Winn cease her attempts to move past him. She could see that her surprise amused him. But rather than rile her, it made her uncertain. Jack's lopsided grin made her feel as if he knew something she didn't.

"Why are you smiling?" she whispered.

"You thought I was just being domineering. You don't think you're enough to make a man jealous." Jack's hand moved from her back to her hip. He'd almost been embracing her before, turned as they were to face each other. Now she felt as if he were almost claiming her…again.

He edged closer, but Winn just watched him rather than dispute his claim. "The last time I had something someone else wanted, I was marooned and left to die on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere." His voice had reached the low, gravely pitch that made her shiver. "I'd like forewarning if something of the same nature is to happen again."

It was uncanny how Jack could read her intentions. His story had the sound of a morality tale. He assumed correctly that she knew how long he'd pursued the _Pearl_ and the captain who'd stolen her. Winn didn't feel as if he were challenging or warning her; it felt more like a declaration.

And a Jack connected to any notion of "declaration" scared her so she chose to pretend the point of his story had escaped her, though they both knew better.

"While it is small, I wouldn't say Osprey Point is in the middle of nowhere."

"It has its hazards. The natives are most unfriendly."

Winn felt a rush of relief to be discussing her brothers again, though the topic itself wasn't one she wanted to dwell on. "Leave my brothers out of this, please."

"Winifred, we're holding dinner for you." Ry was at the base of the stairs, scowling up at them.

"If only I could, Winnie." Jack pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "I don't plan on chasing you for the next ten years."

His renewed tenderness was too much. After all, it was what had gotten them in so much trouble in the first place. She sounded the retreat by turning her face away. "Then stop making me run, Jack."

* * *

Jack tried to be amused as Winn did her best to ignore him. Though the meal was ostensibly to celebrate and pretend that everyone was overjoyed at the thought of the upcoming wedding, Winn did her best to puncture that illusion by lavishing her attention on the blond buffoon sitting across the table from them.

It was laughable, really. Jack knew Winn wasn't as immune to him as she pretended to be. Every time he shifted in his seat, she twitched and scooted a little further over in hers. He draped his arm over the back of her chair, she grinned a little brighter. When his fingers would brush against the side of her neck she would bring up another anecdote to make the blond grin.

The whole situation was comical.

Alex, sitting across from Winn and Jack, had a better vantage point for grasping the humor of the situation. He watched as Jack returned each of Winn's attempts to drive him off with a show of devotion. If she pushed him much further, Alex was sure that Jack was going to make the kind of scene at the table that would have the Morgan brothers hustling him outside for a bit of honest fist to face communication. From the corner of his eye he could see those same brothers exchanging glances. They looked pleased that Winn was giving Jack the cold shoulder. Their wives looked concerned by the games Winn was playing. Morgan and Isabella were carefully avoiding each other's gaze; they had other things to occupy themselves with than their stubborn grandchild. The only other person at the table who looked as amused as Alex felt was Elizabeth, who Alex had forced Winn to introduce him to.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes extravagantly before answering a question that Sarah had asked her. Alex stifled a grin. Yes, he'd always known that the Swann girl would be a kindred spirit. It was probably the reason why Winn had allowed him to be her friend when she'd first arrived in Osprey Point. She'd found something familiar in him.

"….Alex?"

"I'm sorry, what was that, Freddy?"

Winn tried to bottle her impatience. She'd envisioned Alex as being her ally tonight but he wasn't behaving. Jack was showing no signs of changing his mind about her, and she'd thought that if he saw that she didn't need him, he'd lose interest. Well, that was only one motivation for her embarrassing behavior. The other was to see if he were really as jealous as he claimed to be. To be honest, he didn't strike her as the type, no matter what he professed. It was starting to look as if he'd lied. He wasn't actually doing anything to reclaim her attention.

"I said, do you remember the time –"

"Pardon us." Winn didn't quite understand how Jack had gotten her out of her seat, but she didn't have time to wonder about it as he pulled her from the room. She heard her Alex and Elizabeth laughing and her grandmother ordering everyone back into their seats as she and Jack left the formal dining room behind. Marty was lurking outside the every day dining room where the children could be heard having a grand time without their parents in attendance. She made an aborted attempt to go in and check on them, but Jack pulled her past. Winn reflexively began to argue with him; there was an expressionless look of resolve on his face that made her shut her mouth without saying a word.

Jack led Winn outside, unable to bear being inside a moment longer. He couldn't wait until the _Pearl_ arrived and he could stand on her deck again in the wind and the salt spray and see nothing but water and the horizon surrounding him. Perhaps then he'd be able to think more rationally, would be able to unravel Winn's confounding behavior.

"Care to explain what that was all about?" he asked when he judged they were a sufficient distance from the house. After a question like that, he knew that Winn was going to express herself at full volume. He just couldn't think of a better way to ask it.

"You're not my husband yet, Jack Sparrow." Winn pulled her arm free and wrapped it around her ribs. Jack's pace had been…brisk. If she didn't think it would have hurt, she would have yelled at him for his presumption.

"That's not what was decided this morning. All this waiting is to soothe _your_ nerves, not mine."

"Oh, you were just as shocked as I was this morning when Morgan pulled that out of his hat of tricks so don't pretend you're being virtuous."

"Ah, but if I had known –"

"If you had known, I never would have seen you again after I left the _Pearl._"

"Well, perhaps not right away..." Jack caught Winn's incredulous look. "What?"

"What need do you have a wife?"

Jack smirked. "Stood too close to a cannon or two, have you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I remember making it clear that what I am ultimately after is not a wife. Wives can be found anywhere. What I want is something more precious." He was too close again, his eyes too convincing, his words too sweet. "Now, what was it that you were trying to accomplish at dinner? I was already jealous."

"I didn't believe you."

"You know, luv, not every word out of my mouth is a lie."

"But some are."

"Are you completely honest with me?"

"Don't make this about me!"

"But it is. I've been honest with you about my desires."

"No you haven't."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I don't understand them!" Winn turned as if she were going to storm away, but she came back. Her furious pacing was aggressive, but not dangerous. Jack had to admit it was an improvement to how she would have reacted to frustration when he'd first met her.

"What is there to understand, luv?"

"You want me for your wife," she stated, as if presenting the basic facts of a case. "And as your wife, what will be my responsibilities?"

"Responsibilities?" Jack asked with a sinking feeling. Honestly, he hadn't thought past the moment when he'd finally have her.

"Yes. Will I have a household to run? Servants to manage? Children to raise?"

"Children?" Jack choked.

"In case you haven't noticed, we Morgans are quite…productive. Children are often an inescapable consequence of marriage."

Jack was reminded Winn's tale of the taming of Osprey Point. _"However, women and families followed after the men…and with families came responsibilities…"_

Still, Jack could see her point as well. A woman like Winn needed to have tasks that were left solely in her capable hands. He'd seen that on the _Pearl_ when she'd insisted on being given a job in the aftermath of the storm and she'd gotten snippy with anyone who tried to take it away from her. And though he could jest about all the intimate jobs that would fall to her, he knew that wouldn't help him win. Though he wasn't sure what it was he was trying to win at.

"Managing households, is it?" The concept was terrifying, being tied to land in that way. "You're certainly welcome to the _Pearl's_ accounts."

Winn stiffened as if he'd slapped her across the face. "You want me to keep track of all the things you steal?"

Jack's smile was slow, and a little cruel. Anger wasn't usually his first reaction to slights, but Winn had pushed him too far. She complained that she wouldn't have a place in his life, and then she rejected his attempts to compromise.

"You know, word is your grandfather was a privateer for England when was raiding against the Spanish settlements in this part of the world. Does the piece of paper really mean so much? Because as far as I can see, you've been living off the profits of legalized piracy for years."

"Don't your dare compare my grandfather to a filthy –"

"Pirate? Do I need to remind you of Panama, Maracaibo, and Portobello? Of his eagerness to record generations of pirate lore into a single Codex? Of his association with mercenaries, and renegades, and even _pirates _when occasion called?" Jack almost enjoyed the way that Winn fell silent. There was an almost guilty look on her face, as if she understood how much her words had hurt him. "Now, would you care to explain again why you object to marrying me?"

"I don't love you!"

"That's your requirement. Not mine." _One of us can be patient._

"Jack…"

The tone of her voice was equivalent to a white flag, but Jack struggled with accepted it. Normally it would be easy – he would accept that Winn's temper had gotten the best of her and made her tactless. He didn't think that was the case this time. She'd first brought up an argument over domestic matters, hoping it'd make him think twice about wedding her. When that didn't work, she purposely tried to hurt him to make him made enough to leave her. And he had to wonder if he shouldn't just let her win. Her face was so miserable right now, so devoid of energy as if she couldn't stand to keep fighting.

He was on the verge of excusing himself from the aftermath of an argument that he'd never wanted to have when Winn made a feeble attempt to touch him.

"I'm sorry," she said in a soft voice.

Well, he supposed there was still hope. She hadn't turned him over to her grandfather's tender care that morning, and she seemed concerned that her brothers hadn't given up on the notion of defending her honor for her even though it wasn't strictly necessary anymore. She might not love him, but she did care something for his health and well-being. Surely she couldn't keep her defenses up for much longer.

"Love and war, lass," he said, choosing to let the argument die a silent death. Time would tell whether or not he had to deal with the cruel side of her temper or if the current circumstances were just extenuating.

"And which are we involved in?"

"I'm still waiting for you to make up your mind." And then Jack left, without a kiss or a tender word. He might have decided not to hold her words against her – this time – but that didn't mean he had quite forgiven her for them yet either.


	22. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: **_**Gahhhh!!!!**_School has started and the past month has been _insane._ Between work and school and school work and work study I barely have time to eat and sleep, much less write. (Not that school or work kept me from writing two vignettes in that time period.) But I have prevailed (and would have prevailed a heck of a lot earlier if I hadn't hit a characterization snag with Winn that had me stumped for a month) and I bring you a chapter that is a bit longer than my usual ones.

Also, things are looking as if they're wrapping up. I didn't quite expect the story to do that so soon. Of course I realize that every time I say I'm "wrapping up" it takes me another few months to do so, but the end of the story is in sight and that is always an astonishing thing.

I'll try to get reviews out tonight, and I think that from now on I'll reply to them as I get them, not as I'm posting a new chapter. It'll be a bit of a time saver.

Read and enjoy.

* * *

"Freddy?"

"Mmm?" Winn didn't look away from the wide window that looked down on the bay and a good part of the gardens.

"Have you been listening at all?"

"No."

"Winn! This is your wedding!"

Winn couldn't quite identify who was speaking to her. They'd all been talking at her for so long that she'd managed to drown their voices out altogether. "If you need an opinion, why don't you ask Morgan? This was his idea."

"Winn, we know you're upset that Morgan is pushing you to marry sooner than you'd like…" Winn looked up, surprised that what she'd said was being given any consideration at all, but then Sarah had always been the most comforting of her sisters. Though surely even she wouldn't try to gloss things over with an understatement like that. "…but at least it's to a man that you've chosen. Does marrying sooner than you'd planned really matter when it's to a man you love?"

_They have no idea._ Winn met all their eyes in turn, and Elizabeth was the only one who looked self-conscious. _No one's told them. _

Winn was strangely unwilling to tell her sisters what Elizabeth knew. "I'm just not ready," she mumbled as she turned her gaze back out the window. Jack alone braved the heat outside as he slept under a willow tree. She regretted her harsh words from the night before. Perhaps her lie hadn't been a lie. Maybe she _wasn't_ ready to be a wife. She knew that she could lash out like that again the next time she felt trapped.

"Have you decided what you're going to take with you?" Grace asked hesitantly. "If you want to leave with Jack when the _Black Pearl_ arrives, you don't have much time to pack."

Winn barely heard her. Her brothers had appeared in the garden below. They stood in a huddled group, apparently discussing something. She saw them glance towards Jack several times before they all set off in his direction. Ry led, Marcus just a step behind and Richie lagging after them. It was a formation she remembered vividly from her childhood as she tagged along after them. They were up to no good.

"I can't take much. It is a ship after all." Alex's ship, Jack's ship… Storage space still came at a premium. _Are those __**swords **__they're carrying?_ Winn opened the window and leaned out. Even her brothers couldn't possibly be so overbearing –

She watched Jack wake with a start as her brothers came to a stop in front of him, watched his head tilt back as he surveyed the situation. His back was to her but she could see his hands gesticulating. Her brothers looked unimpressed. Ry pulled Jack roughly to his feet and Richard tossed him a sword with an apologetic shrug. Jack caught the weapon but didn't draw it. He held it out to his side, still talking fast, no doubt. Marcus put an end to the discussion when his sword lashed out; Jack's blade just barely met it in time.

"_No!"_ Winn bellowed out the window in the same tone that kept her unruly nephews in line when they misbehaved. Her brothers looked around them in confusion – as if she were addressing someone other than them – and Jack took off running…which of course led her brothers to immediately pursue him.

Winn ran out of the room, ignoring the startled calls from her family and their rush to the window she'd been staring out of. She went straight to her room and grabbed the sword Will had given her from where it rested against her half-unpacked trunk. To save time and lengthy explanations she climbed out her window. The lattice against the house made more than its usual share of forbidding creaks but she reached the ground unharmed.

"Winn!" Elizabeth was hanging out of the window, looking for all the world as if she were about to fall out of it and join Winn on the ground.

"My fight this time, Lizzy! Stay there."

"And just what am I supposed to do?"

"Plan my wedding for me!" Winn spared a brief smile for her friend. "You're the one with all the experience."

"I know how to do more than makes plans, Winifred Morgan! But you – you don't know how to fight!"

"Who said I was going to use my sword?" Winn muttered to herself as she set off at a cautious jog. She was going to _murder_ her brothers, and if she had to use her bare hands to do it, so be it. It'd likely be more satisfying. _I bet Grandfather encouraged this. And if he didn't, then he certainly didn't __**dis**__courage it._ She was going to have a little sit down with the men in her family even if she had to bind them to their seats in order to have it. How did they expect her to plan a wedding when every time she turned her back on them they were plotting to murder her groom?

Winn slowed. She had to be insane. Firstly, she wasn't planning to get married, much less to get involved in the planning of a wedding that wasn't going to happen. Secondly, Jack could take care of himself – he didn't need her defending him. She certainly shouldn't be encouraging him by defending him.

"Think there'll be blood?"

_Pip._

"I don't know… Captain Sparrow's running pretty fast even if he does look silly."

_Phen._ Winn marched over to an overgrown patch of grass. Clearly she'd been right when she thought that Jack could take care of himself if her nephews were in doubt that they'd see any blood. _Boys._ Winn crept into the grass to lie down beside them. They were right she saw as she peered down at the beach below. Jack did run strangely. His arms flailed loosely at his sides as he ducked and wove and occasionally parried a blow. Even stranger though was that he looked as if he were…enjoying himself.

_I suppose he's been having a tame time lately. I was the last one to try to kill him after all and that was weeks ago now._

"Aunt Freddy, are you really going to marry Captain Sparrow?"

"Do you think I should?" Winn looked over to see her two nephews looking at her curiously. "He's a pirate."

"He has gold teeth," Pip pointed out, as if that were an advantage over a man with his original teeth. But to a ten year old she supposed it was. "But no eye patch."

"A ship is more important," Phen disagreed. "He has a ship. And he's not a bad pirate, is he?"

"Not a bad one," Winn agreed, thinking of something else entirely. Jack had made a very good point the night before about Morgan and Morgan's history of raiding Spanish settlements. Men had died. Women and children had died. Some of those deaths had been needless. Winn didn't want to believe that her grandfather had ordered any of those deaths, but men he had voluntarily worked with had been involved. He wasn't completely innocent. By that reasoning, Jack wasn't either – he'd been involved in his own fair share of sea battles – but his most famous exploits were daring escapes and stealthy raids by moonlight. Violence wasn't a hobby of Jack's. It wasn't even his first inclination when thwarted…or enraged. She was proof of that.

_How I hurt him last night._

"Oh, wow!" the brothers exclaimed at once. Winn looked back down at the beach. As unlikely as it'd seemed to happen, blood had been spilled. Jack was looking a little surprised himself as Ry examined the rip in his sleeve. "I've never seen Uncle Ry so mad," one of them marveled as Ry brought his sword back up in an attack that was almost unheralded. Jack barely got his weapon up in time and then they both were off. Marcus and Richard seemed frozen where they stood as Ry pursued Jack down the beach. Somehow things had gone beyond what they'd planned.

Winn didn't waste time on awe; she'd already slithered over the edge of the bluff. The ground was sandy; she slid halfway down before coming to a stop. She sank into the ground up to her ankles when she stood and rode a wave of sand and pebbles down to the beach.

"That was smashing, Aunt Freddy!" The boys came tumbling down the hill after her.

"Richard!" she yelled, trusting him to keep his sons from following after her. She agreed with them that she'd never seen Ryan so mad before. Jack must have said something to him, probably something to do with her. _I have a feeling that if Jack could keep his mouth shut he'd get in a lot less trouble._ Her split lip burned as she couldn't help but smile.

The sounds of metal meeting metal reached her before she caught sight of her quarry. Jack and Ry were fighting on and around an outcropping of rocks. The pitted sandstone reached out into the water. The plumes of spray the waves sent up as they crashed against it were an impressive backdrop to Jack and Ry's athletic display. Winn watched them in awe until Jack stumbled and Ry moved in, his arm drawn back.

"No!" she yelled. She didn't remember how she'd gotten to them so fast or how she'd gotten soaked, but somehow she was between them with her sword out before Ry could do anything rash. She knocked Ry's sword aside with her own unsheathed blade, then slammed her shoulder into his chest. Ry stumbled, but didn't fall. He had Winn disarmed – admittedly the safest move for all involved – before he started yelling at her.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing! Are you mad? You could have gotten yourself killed, you senseless twit!" Ry sheathed his weapon in a swift, angry movement, half afraid that he was going to end up hurting his sister with it. It wasn't as if Sparrow was rushing to her defense, a fact that only upset Ry more. What kind of man didn't stand up for his woman?

"Twit?!" Winn shook out her stinging hand. "This is all _your_ fault. I wouldn't have almost gotten killed if you weren't about to murder my fiancé!" She yelled as she shoved him once more. Again Ry gave a few steps, but his temper didn't lessen a wit. "What were you thinking? Sneaking around, hacking at people like a bloody savage? I can't believe you!" Good grief, why did her brothers all have to do be so much bigger than her? Winn's shoulder hurt from pounding it against the solid wall that was Ry's chest. She couldn't help but note – even then – that Jack had a bit more give to him and that the difference pleased her on some level.

"What did you expect, Winifred?" Ry grabbed Winn's wrists when she moved as if she were going to hit him again. There was only so much a man could be expected to take. "After he way you behaved last night at dinner, what did you honestly expect us to do? You made it very clear that you want nothing to do with _that_," he pointed at Jack with an accusing finger.

"'_That_?'" Winn screeched. She didn't know who she was more furious with: herself for making the same accusation less than a day earlier, or with her brother for channeling the one thing that could make her feel guilty. "'_That_' has a name," she said, hitting Ry once more with her free hand for good measure. "Jack Sparrow. And I'll soon by Winifred Sp-Sparrow…" Winn stuttered as she consciously connected their names for the first time. All at once it hit her what she was really giving up: Jack, his arms around her in the middle of the storm…that evening in his cabin after the storm…that kiss in the garden after she'd caught him flirting with Anne…his hands tenderly changing her dressings to avoid causing her pain the night he came back…

Winn stumbled as the ground seemed to move under her. _How can you be giving this up!_ her mind screamed at her. She _wanted_ to marry him, if for no other reason than so she would somehow always have a hold over him as he had a hold over her. _I am going to go to hell for this._ It wouldn't be waiting patiently for her in the afterlife either – it was going to be her reality as soon as she left. Jack wouldn't give her another chance. All his talk about chasing the _Pearl_ was just that. The _Pearl_ had been taken from him, it hadn't chosen to leave. She would be choosing to leave. Again.

"Winn?" As if no time had passed at all, Ry reached out to steady her. A different set of arms encircled her from behind before he could touch her. She leaned back against Jack as her head spun with the force of her discovery.

"Please…please just let me enjoy these few days."

"Who are you asking?" Ry's hand dropped back down to his side; it looked very empty.

"You, of course," Winn answered automatically. The lies came without her having to search for them. "How am I supposed to plan a wedding if I'm worried about what you're all doing?"

"You want to marry him."

Jack's arms tightened around her waist at the flat disbelief in Ry's voice. It made Winn feel worse.

"Yes. It's what I want." _But what do you do when the two things you want conflict with each other?_ The arms around her waist got tighter and she had to shift as her ribs protested. "Please, Ry. Please don't make this harder for me."

"I still don't trust him."

Ry's eyes focused on something over her shoulder. She called them back to her by saying, "You don't have to. But for what it's worth, I do." Trusted that for the time being, she _was_ what he wanted. What she didn't trust was the fidelity of his desires.

Ry gave Jack one last look, the kind that men passed messages with but that left women out of the loop. Then he turned and walked away. Winn could see her other two brothers not too far down the beach – far enough away that they couldn't overhear, but close enough that they could have interceded if they'd needed to. Winn flattered herself by thinking that they would have had to step in to save Ry from her wrath.

"Your brothers love you."

The observation surprised her. Winn twisted her head around to look at Jack. "Somehow I didn't think you'd appreciate that, considering what that love led them to do."

Jack shrugged. She could feel his chest shift against her shoulders and again she was stuck by how pleasant it was to lean against something with a little give. And it was _just_ a little give. Jack was wiry rather than bulky.

"You're all wet." It was an abrupt change of subject. Winn sensed that Jack wasn't comfortable talking about love. She wondered what kind of life he'd led before he'd become notorious.

"Who were you?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.

"What do you mean, luv?"

"Before you were Captain Jack Sparrow?" Hadn't she asked this question once?

"I've always been Jack Sparrow…just more or less famous than I am now."

Just like that, Winn's mood stabilized. There was no more agonizing over choices to be made, no more cringing at the thought of future pain. Jack wanted her, but he didn't trust her. If he'd given even the smallest sign that he was willing to trust her, she might have ignored all her doubts and truly have been reckless for once.

"I'm all wet," she said, and her voice felt smooth as it came out of her throat. "I should change."

* * *

It took a bit longer to change than Winn had anticipated, mainly because her sisters were holding her clothes hostage until they got an explanation for her earlier behavior. Winn gave them a stripped down version of events while she dressed, making sure that she biased events in her favor. It was only fair; she knew that her brothers would tell their wives their own version of events.

When they left her, Winn prepared herself to go back outside. Jack was downstairs and after the way she'd rushed to his rescue she knew the others expected her to stick close to him for the rest of the day. Still, without a ruse she knew she'd just spend her time thinking about how much it was going to hurt to leave. That's how she found herself sitting in the garden feeding sugared lemon slices to Marty and watching the children play blind man's bluff as she waited for Jack to find her.

She was thinking about how big Pige had gotten in the past month when she felt someone sit down beside her. Winn glanced over at Jack, then looked down at the bowl in her lap. Marty honked, irritated that Winn hadn't yet handed him another slice of lemon. If she didn't know better, Winn would have sworn that Jack growled back at the bird in response. But grown men didn't growl at birds.

Did they?

"Is that bird blue?"

Winn looked Marty over with cool deliberation. "He does have a bluish tinge to him, doesn't he?" she replied as she fished another chunk of lemon out of the bowl and bed it to the bird – careful to keep her fingertips well away from the bird's beak.

Jack waited…and waited…and nothing else was forthcoming. "_Why_ is it blue?"

"He seems to have developed a taste for blueberries."

"Blueberries. Naturally." He'd never heard anything like it, but Jack wouldn't put anything past the demon bird. Though honestly, he didn't care _what_ color the blasted bird was. What concerned him was the distance Winn was keeping from him. She could be having this conversation with anyone. After her intervention on the beach, he'd imagined a warmer welcome. Sure, he knew that she was upset with him – for what he couldn't imagine – but was it really necessary to ignore him like this?

Still, he was Captain Jack Sparrow and wasn't about to be daunted by a case of feminine mopes. If Winn was feeling as feisty as her behavior suggested, then there had to be a way to coax her out of her shell.

"So you're feeding lemons to your grandfather's blue flamingo." Jack's determination was rewarded. Winn glanced over at him again. There was a small, guilty smile on her face. It included him in her mischief, as harmless and childish as it was.

"Irritated with him, are we?"

Oblivious to Jack's machinations (a dangerous thing to be), Winn stared down at the yellow slices of fruit. "Green is a more natural color than blue."

"Of course."

"You're humoring me."

"Well, there's not much else I can do when you refuse to talk to me."

"The last time we spoke, it didn't turn out well." Winn set the bowl aside and gave her skirts a little shake as she stood up. Pige came barreling out of nowhere, jumping and yapping and at last bringing a real smile to Winn's face.

"Is that all it takes, Winnie?"

"Is that all what takes?" Winn crouched down and started scratching Pige's rump.

"To make you smile. A bit of passionate begging for your attention?"

Winn froze. "No." Her throat went dry. "Just honest expressions of love."

"Ah." Jack wasn't ready to touch that subject. "You sure she's not just begging for table scraps?"

"How like a man to think with his stomach." Winn threw a sly glance over her shoulder, just as relieved as Jack to move on. "I –"

A scream from one of the children interrupted her and Winn was moving before Jack could process where it'd come from. Moments after she'd sprinted away with her skits hiked up around her knees – very nice knees they were too – another cry came from the kiddies. "Auntie! It's not our _fault_! We told her she was too little to play!" Jack didn't know what Winn's reply to that was, but he wasn't surprised to see her come marching back, a howling child on one hip and a towing another child along by the ear.

"Nose against the wall, young man. You know better than to be so rough with the young ones. You're lucky your mother wasn't around to see that." Winn let the boy go and called out, "And I want the rest of you where I can see you!" With those encouraging words Winn sat down with a flounce and a squalling child that Jack was alarmed to find himself in close proximity with.

"Umm…" Jack pulled his head away and rubbed his ear. "Shouldn't you fetch its mother?"

Winn glared at Jack. "_**Zoë**_ is _fine_. Mad, but unharmed."

"I see that temper of yours runs in the family in the family after all." Jack couldn't help but look around hopefully for the child's mother. "Are you sure she's alright?"

Winn rolled her eyes and moved Zoë's face out of her neck. "Wanna pway!" the child screamed.

"And you want one of those?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Jack!" Winn shuffled Zoë around in her arms. "Don't be an ass. And pass the lemons."

"The lemons." Jack looked at Zoë pointedly.

"They're sugared," Winn said, as if that should have been obvious. "I'm not about to feed my year-old niece lemons." She handed the tot a slice of lemon…well, _forcefully persuaded _might have been closer to the truth. The results however were the same; Zoë quieted as she nursed all the juice from the treat.

"You like children, don't you?" Jack observed after he was sure Zoë wasn't about to start squalling again.

Winn gestured out to the lot still playing. "I didn't have much of a choice after awhile. I decided it was better to learn how to manage them than try to keep aloof. Not that I could have. There's something about babies…" She turned to Jack. "Have you ever seen it? How a room full of perfectly intelligent adults will go silent if there's a baby in the room to watch? It's amazing."

"Can't say I have, luv."

"Mmm. No, I suppose you wouldn't have." Winn was once again reminded of how distant their two worlds were. The door behind them opened, and Winn turned to see her oldest niece come out. "Bella."

"Mum's still 'talking' with Papa. And Grandmama's doing the same with the Captain," Bella said glumly as she sat on Winn's other side. "We were supposed to go shopping. I finally saved up enough for that compass I wanted." She glanced at Winn, then sighed. "But you're babysitting."

"Sorry sweet," Winn said sympathetically, passing the lemons. "If you're determined, you could ask one of the maids to go with you."

"It's not the same," Bella muttered. "I wanted Papa to see the one I chose. It wasn't an easy decision. He's not going to be in any mood to admire it _now_."

Jack didn't miss the disgruntled look the girl shot him. As if it were his fault that the men in this family were just as warlike as the women. However, in the interests of goodwill… "Compass, is it?" He pulled his off his belt and held it up. "I'm sure it's small comfort, but I happen to have a compass…a _special_ compass."

"Special?" Bella asked in a skeptical tone.

"Aye. _Very_ special."

Winn watched Jack charm her niece, bemused by the effort he was putting into a story that couldn't possibly be true. It was a good story, that much she could admit. She even found herself smiling as he related how he'd won it from a sea witch in a contest to see who could hold their liquor better. And the tale that the compass pointed to what a person wanted most rather than magnetic north was oddly sentimental. However, when Jack actually handed the compass to her enthralled niece, Winn sighed and waited for the inevitable explanation of why Bella's desires laid in a northerly direction.

Bella huddled over the compass, as if afraid of what its magic might reveal. So Winn was quite surprised when Bella yelled, "Aunt Winn!" and held the compass up for her to see. "Look!"

The compass was _not_ pointing north. "It's pointing towards town," Bella explained unnecessarily. "I _knew_ my compass was there." Before Winn could say anything, the girl was running towards the rest of the children, compass held out.

"Well. You won't be getting that back for some time," Winn observed before she looked over at Jack. "What's wrong?" He had an arrested look on his face, as if he hadn't expected Bella to take off either, and he was worried about what might happen to the compass she held. "You're not worried, are you? I don't think she's going to hurt it."

"Winnie, that compass is irreplaceable," he said in a choked kind voice as he watched Avery and Michael fight over it. "I'll be right back."

"But it's broken," she called after him.

"Is not!" he called back.

Winn just shook her head as she watched Jack reclaim his property only to promptly give in to the pleas of the gathered cousins. He made them form a circle with him at its center, then take turns with trying out the "magical" tool. Winn supposed that while broken, it must not be stuck, because no one seemed to question him why it pointed in the same direction for everyone.

He was asking if everyone had taken a turn when Laura broke ranks and crooked her finger at him. Jack obediently bent down and let the girl whisper into his ear – a task rendered dangerous by the girl's missing front teeth. Winn was startled when they both looked over at her with identical looks of mischief on their faces. Jack said something too softly for her to hear but that raised cheers of approval from his audience. The children swept him up in their midst and delivered him to her with delight.

"Your thurn, Aunthie," Laura lisped with a wide grin.

"Oh." Winn looked at her niece, and then at Jack. He was grinning lazily, his eyelids low as he looked down at her. "I don't know –" Protests went up from everyone but Jack until she relented and accepted the compass from his open palm.

"You have to open it, luv," reminded her gently. She grimaced at him, but shifted Zoë around in her arms and pulled the lid back. The wooden hinges creaked in protest and she rubbed her thumb against the side of the case as she waited for something to happen. She was on the verge of saying "I told you so" when before her disbelieving eyes the face started to turn…and then to spin.

"I thought you said this thing was suppose to point, not whirl like a dervish."

Jack's brows pulled down into a frown and he bent down to take a look. "That," he said after a brief study, "_is_ what it's pointing to."

"But it's pointing to everything," Winn protested.

"Exactly, lass. That's what it does when its bearer doesn't know what she wants." He looked up suddenly and Winn was caught by the full force of his eyes. "I admit I'm disappointed. Here I thought I'd done such a good job of insuring your desire."

"I'd like to see you do any better," Winn snapped, shoving the box into his chest.

"Gladly." Jack took the compass without any hesitation at all. He didn't even look down at it. He met Winn's gaze until she was the one tear her eyes away. She peeked at the compass, intending to rub his face in its broken state, only to find it pointing squarely at her.

"Stop it." She raised his hand so that the compass wasn't slanted towards her, but it didn't change anything. Just to irritate her, she was certain, Jack rattled it around then let her see it again…still it was pointing at her.

"Are you still convinced that it's broken?" he whispered as he caught her gaze again.

"I'm not impressed by parlour tricks, Captain."

"And bedroom tricks? Are you impressed by those?"

"Ship, ho!" a voice from far above them called before Winn could retort that he'd never find out. Instead she found her irritation diffused by the way that he craned his neck around, looking for the lookout.

"He's on the roof," she whispered. "Grandfather likes to know when ships are approaching our cove rather than making for the Point."

"It happens often?"

"No. The cove is too shallow to make convenient anchorage, so usually only family ships make harbor here…" Winn's throat tightened. "Or ships who've been instructed to come here."

Jack's dark eyes lit with excitement. "The _Black Pearl._"

"It's too soon," she whispered in protest.

"Fastest ship in the Caribbean, remember?" Jack asked as he stood back up. He closed the lid of the compass, but not before Winn could notice that it was no longer pointing at her. The face was swinging around. She would have bet her last set of silk stockings that under the lid it'd be pointing towards the harbor.

* * *

"Winn?" Jack found his reluctant bride-to-be on an outside terrace. She was looking out over the gardens and the cove, her gaze fastened on the ship that would soon be her home. Her mouth was pulled down in a pensive frown and her brow was furrowed.

"Coming to confide that the wedding's off?" she asked lightly, in odds to her expression.

Jack heard the anxiety that slipped through her careful nonchalance and was comforted. If Winn was nervous about him leaving, then she probably wasn't inventing imaginative ways of running off herself…and he'd started to think that was a possibility "Having second thoughts, are we?"

"_We've_ moved past that to forth and fifth thoughts by now, and will most likely be up to fiftieth thoughts by tomorrow." She carefully prodded the skin around her eye, which still bore faint bruises.

"That's encouraging."

Winn shrugged her slim shoulders. "I didn't expect the _Pearl_ to arrive so soon. I thought I'd bargained for more time." She turned her back on the _Pearl_ and faced Jack. "Strange, isn't it?"

"Isn't what?"

"I got less than what I bargained for, and you got more. Or at least, you've certainly gotten into more trouble than your crew bargained for. They didn't seemed pleased to discover that the Captain would be taking a wife."

"Ignore Gibbs," Jack replied. "He's got a different superstition for every day of the week."

"It's hard to ignore a man who's made a good point." She crossed her arms and studied her toes. "Pirate ships aren't like merchant vessels. It's no uncommon thing for a captain, or carpenter, or physician to bring his wife along on a long voyage should she have the proper fortitude. Women _don't_ join pirate crews."

"Ann Bonny and Mary Read," Jack replied.

"Would have been hung if they hadn't been pregnant with illegitimate children," Winn shot back. "And it doesn't comfort me that you can only dredge up two poor examples to support your argument."

"Where's the mutt?" Jack asked.

Winn let him change the subject. "Begging table scraps from Dominic, no doubt. She's a growing puppy."

Jack thought about that growing puppy – and the size of said canine's paws – and winced. "You weren't thinking of bringing her, were you?"

"She won't trouble you," Winn promised.

"You're going to miss all of this, aren't you?" Jack asked, hoping the answer to her solemnity was that simple.

"Yes," Winn's answer was honest. "It's my home."

Jack let out an exaggerated sigh. "Come on."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on." He took her hand and led her away from the terrace.

Winn lagged a step behind as he pulled her through the dark, but she didn't try to escape. She did ask, "Where are we going?"

Jack turned so quickly that Winn bumped into his chest. His lips caught hers quickly before he set off again. "You ask too many questions."

"You're taking me to the _Pearl_, aren't you? Why?" she asked.

"Well…" Jack slowed and looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Actually, it was Gibbs' suggestion. He thought that you might need time to reacquaint yourself with the ship."

"Mmm." Jack's brow hiked at her non-committal response. "I just thought it was strange, is all," she said without meeting his eyes. "Considering Master Gibbs' opinion of women and their place on ships…"

"My opinion is the one that counts," Jack growled as he pulled her close. "Savvy?"

Winn couldn't help but smile at his confident arrogance. It was just so characteristic of the man he was. Despite all the times that things had gone awry in his life, he never acted as if his plans might fail…even when they were foolishly optimistic.

And she loved that about him.

This was just too dangerous, being here – alone – with him. Winn bit her lip and lowered her gaze to his shoulder. "You're a cheerful tyrant."

"And you're unabashedly defiant."

"You'd prefer bashful defiance?"

"I'd prefer no defiance." Jack grinned when he heard Winn's soft snort. He tucked a knuckle under her chin and coaxed her face up. "Well, we'll have time to work on that."

"Will we?" She didn't fail him. Her eyes lit with skepticism and one half of her mouth turned down into a rebellious line.

"Aye."

Winn sighed as she imaged the kind of persuasion he'd use to tempt her into accepting his gentle tyranny. It was so much to give up. Too much if she didn't allow herself to hope that she'd find these same traits in a more suitable man.

"It's late." She pulled out of Jack's arms until only his hand clasping hers tethered them together. It was a tenuous connection, feeble, easily severed.

She wasn't ready to give it up yet she knew she had to let go.

"I can't go, Jack."

_I knew I shouldn't have stopped._ Jack thought about the longboat that was waiting on Morgan's beach for him. He knew that even now he could forcibly haul a protesting Winn down to the shore and take her back to the _Black Pearl_ whether she wanted to go or not. But was it worth it? He was already so close to gaining exactly what he wanted. All he had to do was be patient for another twenty-four hours and he'd have a Winn who'd join him because she'd have nowhere else to go. Not the most romantic thought – not nearly as romantic as stealing away with the female he'd chosen as his own – but pragmatic. Winn would be difficult enough tomorrow without his going out of his way to upset her.

"Alright, lass. I can wait for you."

His phrasing had to be accidental. He couldn't know how much the difference between waiting and waiting for _her_ made her heart race. And how much it hurt to think that by tomorrow they wouldn't be the same people they were tonight. It would be her doing, all of it. Her choice.

"Jack?" Winn knew there was something she had to say, some thanks, or sentiment, or farewell, but she didn't know what the words were. "I'm sorry."

"I didn't really expect you to throw everything aside and sail away with me tonight, luv." Jack's crooked smile reeled her in against her better judgment. He didn't need to pull her to him by the hand he still clasped. She would have come willingly. "Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed it, mind you."

"I can image." Winn planted her feet so that he had to meet her halfway. "What are you doing, Jack?"

"Claiming a good night kiss?"

"Claiming?"

There was a certain note of caution in her voice that had him rephrasing his last words. "Giving."

"Better." Before Jack could say anything she leaned forward and kissed him, knowing that this was their goodbye.

* * *

Winn stood before her windows, looking out at the cove. The _Black Pearl_ was anchored offshore, and Jack was on it…somewhere. The temptation to ponder his activities called to Winn but she stubbornly refused to think about anything other than her plan to reach the Point.

_Too quickly._ _Everything's moving too quickly._ Winn briefly wondered if she was doing the right thing by leaving, but all her other choices seemed just as hasty. Her future seemed clouded and she needed to leave before Jack could muddy the waters further.

Her resolved steadied to the grief of her inner voice. Resting her head against the cool glass, she absently thought, _He'll never even know that this was the hardest thing I've ever done._

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. "Come in," she called without turning around.

She heard the door open, heard the thump of a cane against hardwood. "I hope you're pleased, Grandfather. Tomorrow you'll see your last grandchild safely wed, to a man named Sparrow, no less. Will you now turn your attention to finding a match for Bella, or will you wait a few years?"

"Winifred, if I truly thought that this man would make you miserable, if I thought he would mistreat you, if I thought he would take you for granted, then I would not have given this marriage my blessing." Coming up beside his only granddaughter, Morgan asked, "What is it that has you so downcast when you should be pondering your future?"

Winn wondered if her grandfather was just as confused as she was. If he were, then she could be more charitable, especially as he hit on the very thing that troubled her. "The future," she repeated. "The passing of one life for another. Tomorrow I'll be someone different than I am today."

Morgan was quiet for a long time. Why couldn't his granddaughter ever trouble herself with simple matters? "Can you honestly say that you won't welcome a change in your life, Winnie? I've seen you, these last few years. I've seen your smiles, and heard your laughter, but I've also seen you staring out at the ocean when you thought no one was watching. What were you thinking when you say the sun setting into the ocean, when you saw the stars rise above its rim?"

"I was wondering what was beyond the horizon." _I wanted to know what I've been missing out on._

"You're marrying a man who can show you, who can take you there."

"But is it worth what I'm risking?"

"Risk is a part of live, Winnie. But if you believe that you're risking anything you can't afford to lose, then I'll put a stop to this wedding right now. I'll tell Captain Sparrow to leave and never seek you out again."

Ah, the governor's pardon came as she climbed the stairs to the gallows, but did it offer freedom or further incarceration? After all he'd gone through to get her to this point, Winn doubted that he'd give up on marrying her off now. Better just to follow through with her plans and deal with his anger later.

"Winn?"

She glanced over. "I content with my life. With the rhythm of it."

"Then you deserve more. You don't deserve to be simply content. You deserve to dance to that beat, child, not just march to it."

Winn looked away from the window, and up into her grandfather's face. "You think he could make me happy?"

"That's not for me to say. What do you believe?"

There was silence in the room for several minutes. Finally Winn sighed and turned he back to the window. "I think…I think that I'm ready for a change."

"Is that enough to marry him? To stay with him?"

Looking at her reflection in the dark window, Winn lied, "I guess I'll find out." She looked pale and fragile, but determined, perhaps even a little calm.

"You know that this will always be your home."

Winn looked back at her grandfather. "I know." Whether she would always be welcome or not was another story.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Winn climbed out the window of her room, a sedated Pige in a bag on her back. She'd already sent a trunk of clothing and other belongings to Alex. They safely stowed in a small cabin on his ship as she would soon be.

She dropped to the grass silently, her boots making no noise in the damp earth. Quickly circumnavigating the house, she made it to the front gates. She avoided the gatekeeper by using the smaller gate that was hidden behind some large ornamental bushes.

Squeezing past the branches of the bush, Winn barely held back the urge to go back to the house but then she looked up to see Alex at their agreed meeting place. He offered her an arm from his position on his horse. When she took it, he swung her up onto the horse. "God as my witness, you are the most stubborn woman I know. Probably the most stupid too."

"Don't sass me, Alex. I just tricked a man into thinking I was going to marry him and ran away from my family. I'm not in the best of moods."

"You're really going through with this then, and not just catching a ride back to the house."

Winn looked back at the house and found the window to her room. How long before someone missed her? How long before they suspected she wasn't coming back?

How was Jack going to react to her disappearance?

"We have a long journey ahead of us. We should depart as soon as possible."


	23. Chapter 22

**Author's Note:**well, I survived another term of school, though just barely. I did have my last studio drawing class this term though, so for now on I might hopefully have more time to write. That or more time to work. One or the other. ;)

Thank you all for being so patient with me. Not only did I have half a term to get through this chapter, but I had to struggle with Winn being obstinate. It took me a long time to figure out why this chapter wasn't working – after all, I wrote Inconvenient and things turned out just fine there – but I finally figured out that my problem is that I've deviated too far from where Inconvenient went so I can't end this story in the same way. I'm not sure how I _am_ going to end it, just 90 certain that the next chapter will be the end. Of course, then there'll be the next story to write. ;)

As always, review and let me know what worked for you and what didn't.

* * *

It was a gorgeous day, perfect for sailing, for embarking on a new journey, but the weather was lost on Jack. His mood had been black ever since Morgan had called him into his study and explained that Winn had disappeared. There was no letter, no note, no sign of where she'd gone. Oh, everyone knew _how_ she'd gone – coincidence didn't even begin to explain why Alex Thompson had decided to leave for an unplanned trip the same night his longtime cohort decided to run away. It was the final destination that no one seemed able to guess. Everyone but Isabella offered a suggestion. Elizabeth _hovered_ over him, giving unwanted encouragement and making unneeded excuses for Winn's behavior. What nobody understood was that Jack didn't care _why_ Winn had left or where she'd gone…because the reason didn't negate the result.

Winn was still gone, and by her own free will.

She'd lied to his face about her intentions, and then _she'd left_ in the same day without a single word.

"Jack…"

His eyes rolled extravagantly, and he had to keep himself from reaching for his pistol. _I should have shot the bothersome chit when I had the chance._ Jack hadn't anticipated that he could be as annoyed with any woman as he'd become with Elizabeth in the last two days. Clearly he'd underestimated her ability to discern when her presence wasn't wanted.

"I've heard it all, luv. Why don't you give your mouth a much needed rest?" Here came the longboat, returning after unloading the last of the provisions Morgan had pressed on him in the face of Winn's perfidy.

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed in irritation, but Will's hand on her arm reminded her to bite back the retort that was on the tip of her tongue. "I wanted to wish you safe journey, Captain," she ground out. _Though now you're welcome to whatever fate lies in store for you._

The "go-to-the-devil" tone in her voice said it all. Jack grinned humorlessly. "Your wishes warm the cockles of my poor shrunken heart."

"Will!"

"What?" Will looked alarmed, as if he'd been caught not paying attention. "I had nothing to do with it. _I_ know better than to try to force Winn into doing something she doesn't want to do." Both Elizabeth and Jack glared at him. "Well, I do."

"I wanted you to talk Jack into going after Winn," Elizabeth said slowly, obviously trying to control her temper.

"I also know better than to try to talk Jack into doing something _he_ doesn't want to do."

"Men," Elizabeth hissed under her breath. "Stubborn, pigheaded, perverse –"

"As much as I'd love to stand here and let you mutter imprecations at me, regretfully I've other things to do. It's been too long since the crew brought in a haul. If I don't find us a nice fat pigeon soon, I'll have deserters, and that's just a messy business." Jack waded out into the shallows to meet the approaching long boat. "Should any of you ever see Winn again, give her my regards." His tone left no doubt as to what his regards were.

"You love her, you bloody idiot!" Elizabeth yelled from the beach. When that didn't garner her the reaction she sought, she ran out into the surf and pulled herself into the longboat, soaking herself and everyone else in the process. "You're a coward, Jack Sparrow!"

"I'm not the one who ran, savvy?" Jack snarled in her face. His temper had been on a short leash for days now, and Elizabeth had just given him all the excuse he needed to vent it.

"You're the one running now," she shot back, clearly unimpressed by his display. "Just _think_. Winn's been running from love for years. She's not going to stop in a matter of days. Yes, she ran. It's inexcusable what she did. If I know her like I think I do then she already hates herself for it. Nevertheless, being as foolishly stubborn as she is, she'll decide its best that you to hate her…because who _does_ something like this? She'll convince herself that she's an awful, horrible, unlovable person, and unless you go after her she'll never stop thinking that. And I won't let her do that to herself." Elizabeth's look was quite fierce, but Jack was just as impressed with her as she'd been with him.

"You go find her then. I wash my hands of this whole mad family."

"Jack, you can't just give up on her." If she could talk some sense into this man then Elizabeth knew that everything would be all right between him and her friend. "She loves you. If you enjoy impossible challenges as much as you say you do, you'd go after her."

Jack's response was short, succinct, and if he'd still been on the beach, would have forced Will to defend his lady's honor.

* * *

Ship after ship after ship fell prey to the _Black Pearl_ in the ensuing days until it was as if her crew had blazed a trail north and east into the deep into the expanses of the Atlantic. If any hand noticed that they were sailing well past their usual hunting grounds, none of them mentioned it to the captain. Even Gibbs – who could usually be counted on to broach even the most delicate subjects in his roundabout way – gave Jack a wide berth except to remark that mightn't the Navy get a mite suspicious if they kept laying such a predictable course? Jack's response was so unencouraging that no one mentioned it again…at least, not in his hearing.

Jack couldn't have cared less about trails, predictable or otherwise. As soon as each ship fell to the _Pearl_ he would consult his compass and bark out whichever coordinates it indicated, and never once did he admit to running from anything. He'd once spent time on every sea the globe contained. For too many years he'd confined himself to the Caribbean. The _Pearl_ had been contained; she was too worthy a ship to remain in familiar waters.

And so Jack brooded while his crew stepped lightly and had wistful dreams of ports where they might spend their ill-gotten – and steadily amassing – wealth.

* * *

Winn wasn't doing much better than Jack, though her unrest manifested itself in characteristic restlessness and not moody lethargy. She all but wore a path in the planks of Alex's ship before he threatened to send her up into the crow's nest if she didn't stop pestering his crew. After that she subdued her restlessness to a thorough scouring of Alex's cabin…and her own…and then the mess…and the tiny medical ward which was barely large enough for a single wounded man and a physician. She exhausted herself with the cleaning so that when night came she might sleep deeply. She feared the dreams she might otherwise have, just as she feared opening the cover of her sketchbook.

"It's not as if we're committed ourselves yet," Alex said in a carefully neutral voice as the two friends shared a meal in his spotless cabin.

"What do you mean?" Winn asked, immediately on her guard. Alex hadn't protested their journey since he'd accused her of unimaginable stupidity. She'd been amazed at his restraint until she decided that he must be biding his time until he thought she was rational enough to listen…or out of things to clean.

_Proves how little he knows. Tomorrow I start on the holds._

"We've enough provisions still to turn back now. Another few days and we'll be committed to making port in the Azores."

"I wasn't aware our plans were subject to change at this date," Winn remarked as she pushed her food around her plate.

"Bloody –" Alex thrust his chair away from the table and ran his hands through his hair. "Winn – this is all about _you!_ _We _–" he gestured between them, "don't have any plans! I did this because you asked it of me, not because I thought it was a brilliant idea."

"Strange. I thought it was the lure of gold that finally persuaded you."

If she'd been looking at him, Winn would have seen that Alex judged that as being beneath her. "What _persuaded_ me was the complexity of your plans. I knew that if I didn't fall in with you, you would have found someone else who would. And then I'd be forced either to tell your family about your ridiculous scheme – no thank you – or would have had to hare after you myself. And frankly, I'd like to spare my heart even if you choose to ignore yours."

"It's too late to go back, Alex," Winn murmured after she took the time to think about his words. "What's there for me to go back to? Morgan will be furious, Ry will do everything he can to keep me safely under his thumb, and…" She swallowed hard. _And __**he**__ won't be there. _ "If you've changed your mind about coming with me, then turn the ship around. At least I'll have a fortnight or so to come up with a new plan."

"I'm not going to turn us around if I _still_ have to worry about whatever you'll take it into your head to do next," Alex sighed. "I have too much respect for your creativity." He rubbed his face and pressed the palms of his hands against his closed eyes. He knew when he'd been defeated. "Where are you raising mayhem tomorrow? The crew quarters? The brig? The bilge?"

"Your empty holds are full of detritus from past cargos."

"Ah. The holds. I should have known. Just try not to scrub a hole clear through the hull, won't you?"

"Of course. You know how much I hate swimming."

* * *

Northeast. Always northeast. Jack stared at the compass lying open on the table in front of him. For a man who wasn't running from anything, he was moving swiftly without the meanest clue of a destination. Why did he keep following the bloody needle when he had no good reason for continuing this course?

_Because the alternative is to admit to being lost,_ offered the voice that couldn't even be quieted by the copious amounts of rum he'd taken to downing every night. It gave him a vicious headache every morning – or whenever he finally roused himself from his bed – but that only further served to contain whatever thoughts _could_ be corralled. If he couldn't stop the unconscious thoughts, the least he could do was hinder the conscious ones.

His reasoning didn't seem as sound when Gibbs came barreling into his cabin with a shocking lack of sensitivity the next morning. Despite his protests, Gibbs roused Jack out of bed and out to the deck.

"Why was it necessary for me to come out here?" Jack snarled as he tried in vain to protect his eyes from the merciless sun.

"The lookout has spotted a ship, Capt'n," Gibbs patiently explained again. "If the wind continues from this quarter, we'll overtake them by sunset."

"Then whyever didn't you wait to wake me until then?"

Gibbs ignored him. "Would you like to go aloft yerself, Capt'n?" he asked as he all but shoved a spyglass into Jack's hands.

Grumbling, cursing, Jack handed over his had and coat and made for the nearest set of ratlines.

* * *

Alex walked the deck of his ship as if he weren't a man with a lot on his mind. "Has that ship continued gaining on us, Matthews?" he asked his first mate. Not too long after dawn, the lookouts had spotted a ship in the distance. By ten in the morning, it'd been clear that they were being followed. Alex could think of a few people who might be interested in catching up with him…or rather, with Winn. He couldn't think of anyone that he'd personally crossed within the last few months.

"Aye, Captain." Matthews handed over the spyglass he had in his hand. "See for yourself. She's within identification distance."

Alex held the glass for a long time, confirming what his mate already suspected. A ship with black sails flying no colors.

"Orders, sir?"

Alex collapsed the spyglass. _Freddy…_ He frowned. What was he supposed to do now? He had the _Black Pearl_ on his trail and a miserable best friend who said she wanted nothing to do with anything related to the_Pearl_…not that you'd guess it from her behavior. He had no chance of outrunning the _Pearl_ and no chance of convincing Winn that they couldn't.

Not that he necessarily had to _tell_ Winn about their pursuers…yet…if at all. Either Sparrow already knew that Winn was here or this was a coincidental crossing. Two ships in the night, so to speak. If Sparrow had come seeking her, there wouldn't have been a choice to make. Winn's constant misery would have forced his hand. And she probably wouldn't stir from the lower decks until someone routed her out, so she was safely out of his way.

And he really had had enough of watching her fade a bit more with each passing day. At least with Sparrow on board she'd demonstrate a little spirit for once.

"Matthews, order the men to reef sails. If Miss Morgan comes above deck, please fail to mention our shadow. I don't want to deal with her _and_ our guests."

Matthews – who had been a member of Alex's crew almost as long as there'd been a crew to be had – eyed his captain as if he were disposed of his wits. "Sir. That appears to be the _Black Pearl_ on our doorstep."

"Clearly. And we have Sparrow's former – although, since Freddy never really broke it off, I suppose she's still his current – fiancée on board. I don't think we'll prove much of a temptation in light of things."

* * *

"You!" Jack felt his jaw drop in surprise. He'd been immediately suspicious of a ship that waited for the _Pearl_ to catch up with it. The last ship to do that had carried Winn as a passenger, and that had led to his meeting Winn, and that…

Jack didn't like thinking about what _that_ had led to.

Alex couldn't miss Jack's surprise, but he did a better job of hiding his own. How could Sparrow possibly be surprised? All of Osprey Point had to know that Winn had left with him. They'd been waiting for something like it to happen for years, all of them able to see what Winn had chosen to ignore. And if Sparrow didn't know that…

…but then Sparrow's face was just about as haggard as Winn's had become and his reaction wasn't that of a man hunting down a wayward lover.

"You hadn't intended to follow the _Fortune's Run_," Alex said, waiting to know where things stood before he made any decisions concerning Winn. "Or rather, you weren't aware that it was the _Fortune's Run_ that you were intent on following."

Jack ignored this as he walked the perimeter of the small cabin, peering everywhere cautiously as if he expected something to jump out and bite him. He kicked a trunk, as if testing its weight and density, and prodded the blankets of the unmade bed. Something rolled under his foot when he took his next step. He examined the floor and grimaced at the pencil he'd broken under foot. There were shattered charcoal sticks nearby, and a crumpled piece of paper half-hidden behind an abandoned boot. Jack picked up the boot and the paper. The sole of the boot was far too small to fit a grown man and the paper was too fine a grade for casual use.

Small boots…charcoal and paper…Winnie's blond friend…

Jack's temper, so close to the surface these days, pulled against its reins. His palm squeaked against the hilt of his sword as his fist curled around it. He had to force himself not to draw it. You couldn't kill a man for where his loyalties lay…most of the time.

"Where is she?"

Alex debated the answers he could give. He could lie outright and say that Winn had never been on his ship…of course, then he'd have to provide an explanation for the items Sparrow had in his hands. He could refuse to answer of course, but the _Fortune's Run_ wasn't a large ship and it wouldn't take long for Winn to be searched out. That she hadn't already been found was a surprise in itself. Then of course, Alex could simply refuse to give Winn up when she was eventually found. How difficult a task it'd be would depend on how badly Sparrow wanted her back.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I can't very well throttle her if I can't find her, now can I?"

"I trust you're not serious, though I'm sure you're not the first man to have that reaction to Freddy. She tends to evoke emotions as strong in others as the ones she herself feels."

That sounded a little too much as if there were a lesson to be had, and Jack eyed Alex warily.

"I assure you, after being her friend for as many years as I've been, I've often felt the same desire…if only to instill some common sense in her."

Jack grunted, but made to move to take back his query. Now that he'd found Winn – however accidental it might have been – Jack had no desire to part company with her without making his opinion of her recent behavior_very _clear.

* * *

Winn heard boots thumping loudly on the stairs. She supposed the ship was becalmed. It certainly felt as if it were. This was the wrong time of year to be making a journey east across the Atlantic, but she'd never suspected that the sailing could be this hard. _Doubtlessly, Alex wants to point out – __**again**__ – that this trip was ill-conceived and misbegotten from the very start. And all my idea. _To make matters worse, Winn knew that Alex was probably right. She'd run without any other thought but escape. Why shouldn't things be going wrong?

She heard Alex's tread come down the short corridor and resumed her scrubbing with a ferocity she reserved only for the presence of others. For most of the afternoon she'd worked at the floor with only half a heart. She didn't really feel like cleaning any more than she felt like doing anything else. Lying about when there was work to be done was frowned upon however and crying would be even _less_ productive than her current behavior, so she persevered with her mad spree.

The footsteps paused in the doorway. "I suppose you've come to tell me that the wind dying down is all my fault as well," Winn said without turning around.

"You're not becalmed."

She felt her breath freeze in her lungs. Her arm spasmed in an aborted attempt to put her scrub brush in the water bucket, but she knocked it over instead. Murky water rushed across the floor, immediately soaking the knees of her trousers. Winn clambered to her feet, dropping the brush without care for where it landed. It clattered as it hit the floor, making her wince a little as she slowly turned towards the door.

Brown boots. Alex's boots were black. As were hers. Her own feet were bare, and the water she'd been using to scrub the floors was cool against her toes. It made the texture of the floor under her feet revolting, all sticky and slick at the same time.

"I…" Winn couldn't lift her eyes any farther up than his boots. "I… Why are you here, Jack?"

"You're here."

Her head tossed, dismissing any sentimentality his words might carry like a horse dismissed a fly. "How did you find me?"

"Magic compass, remember? Led me straight to you." Jack was still cursing it for that stunt. How could it have possibly interpreted _this_ as the fulfillment of what he wanted

"I don't understand." Winn slowly lifted her eyes, met his gaze for a moment, then quickly looked away. "I… Why?" When her eyes returned to him they seemed to devour him where he stood.

_Oh. That's how._ Jack crossed the few feet between them and grabbed Winn before she could even think to react. He had her against the wall, his lips devouring her as her eyes had him before _he_ could even think to react.

Winn gasped and fisted her hands in his coat, holding him close to her as she started to kiss him back. But at her first response he jerked away. They stared at one another for a moment – Winn's eyes wide and Jack's narrowed – before he grabbed her wrist and hauled her out of the tiny storage room.

"What are you doing?" Winn tripped on the stairs and Jack pulled her upright, once again trapping her between the wall and his body. He didn't answer, just started kissing her again, this time long enough for her to detect the recklessness in him. She didn't know how to keep from responding, from answering whatever demand he was making.

Besides, the simple truth was that she wanted to kiss him.

Jack felt her surrender, felt her arms wrap around him. He parted her lips with his own and deepened the kiss, demanding more than he ever had from her. That she feel more, that she respond more, that she give more. And she gave it. His hand was tight in her hair, keeping her from moving her head even if she'd wanted to. It wasn't until she started to tremble that Jack lifted his head.

"You're coming with me," he said shortly. Then he was hauling her up the stairs again without another word.

"What are you talking about?" Winn demanded in alarm. She struggled enough that he paused again. "I'm not going anywhere –"

"You can come as my wife or come as my mistress, but either way you're coming with me."

"I'm not going," Winn repeated, though her voice wasn't nearly as decisive as she wished.

"I wasn't offering you a choice."

"Alex won't let you take me if I don't want to go."

"Frankly, I don't care what your lover's opinion of the matter is."

Winn closed her eyes at the ugliness of the accusation. "He's not my lover," she whispered. "But even if he were, it'd be none of your concern."

"What my wife does is very much my concern."

"I'm _not_ your wife."

"Fine. Then what my mistress does is very much my concern."

"_I'm not –"_

"I told you to choose wife or lover, and you chose _not_-wife. Though why you'd choose that when we're already illegally wed – which by my reckoning probably equates to being more than halfway to being legally wed – is beyond me."

"Jack!" Winn twisted her arm so that she could grab his wrist. However, whatever she meant to say got lost somewhere between her outrage and the way she'd missed him. She climbed up onto the riser he was standing on and gently backed him into the wall. Jack's eyes were wary and distrustful as she slid her hands over his shoulders and stepped so close that their breath mingled. "Jack." Her kiss was searching and apologetic, full of her confusion and cowardice.

Jack could taste her pain, and irritation disappeared in the face of it. His thumbs brushed over cheekbones that were more prominent than they'd been the last time he'd seen her. When she pulled away and buried her face in his chest he finally took notice of the heavy circles under her eyes. Whatever she'd been doing since she left him hadn't included having a good time.

"I don't know what to do," she mumbled into his shirt. "If I leave you, I hurt. If I marry you, I fear being hurt. And I'm too much of a coward to live in the pain I feel now or to wait for it to find me later. I don't know what to do, Jack."

"Marry me, Winnie," Jack whispered into her crown.

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to have you one way or another and you'll only blame me later if you don't make the choice yourself."

"Jack –" Winn objected sharply, but he didn't give her a chance to continue.

"Marry me," he cajoled as he twisted his head around to kiss her cheek. "Marry me," he tempted as he pressed open-mouthed kisses against her neck. "Marry me," he commanded as he pulled her head back and once again teased his lips over hers. "Marry me," he sighed in the tone of a man with nothing left to lose when he finally had to pull away so that Winn could give him an answer.

Without meeting his eyes, Winn nodded and laid her head against his shoulder.

* * *

They were waiting for her.

Winn stared at the reflection in the mirror, taking one last look at herself. She'd told Morgan that she feared marriage because it would make her someone she didn't know. Well the worst it could do now was change her name, because she already didn't know the woman in the mirror.

She examined her face carefully and complemented herself on not looking grim. That, at least, was something. And she didn't appear terrified or even enraged for that matter, which she knew she really ought to make an effort at being. Enraged, that was. It was poor form, allowing herself to be coerced in this manner. The next time Jack tried it she'd have to dig her heels in. Couldn't let the man actually live with the illusion that she could be bullied into doing things she didn't want to.

Which led her thoughts back to the reason she was standing in front of the mirror. Winn tweaked her collar – she did finally rouse enough to insist that she wasn't going to be married in patched trousers with wet knees – and pulled at the extra material. Would a bit more chest really be too much to ask for? Her own fault she supposed, for not eating much this last fortnight, but still…

Someone pounded on the door. "I'll come out when I'm ready to come out!" she yelled, irritated by the interruption. Couldn't she have a few minutes to prepare herself for what was coming? She was getting married for pity's sake, by her own choice because anything had to be better than this limbo she'd been trapped in. Surely Jack couldn't make her any more miserable than she could make herself.

The door opened and Winn turned around to take off the head of whoever dared interrupt her, but stopped herself when she saw Alex. He lifted his brows at her and she shrugged.

"A little tense, are we?" Alex asked as he slipped into the room.

"Well, I can't speak for you…"

"That's it. I'd hate for you to lose your sense of humor." He searched through the books on one of the shelves, disturbing their orderly ranks as he went through them. "Bugger. Freddy, was it really necessary to reorganize my books? I can't find a thing."

"What are you looking for?"

"What do you think I'm looking for? Do you know how often I've had the chance to marry someone? Never, if you're wondering."

"Lovely. I'm filled with confidence."

"Considering the witnesses, I don't think anyone will notice if I botch it."

"Considering the witnesses, I'll be surprised if half of them even remember the ceremony."

"I don't think any of them are currently drunk, and Jack doesn't seem that hung over."

"Good. Proposing to a woman ought to be a sobering experience."

Alex cursed as he started taking the books off the shelf one by one. "Winn, where's my Book of Common Prayer?"

"In the trunk with all the other items that were covered with a layer of dust."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Just because something has a layer of dust on it doesn't mean that it's been forgotten. I _knew_ perfectly well where everything was. And once you're gone I don't know how I'll find anything ever again," he grumbled.

Winn ignored this as too ridiculous for comment. Instead she lightly kicked the side of one of her own trunks, repacked with much less care than she'd used to stow away Alex's belongings.

"Freddy…"

"You know," Winn interrupted. "If I'd had a bit of warning, just the tiniest smidgen of time to prepare myself, I probably could have argued my way out of this mess."

"That's why I ordered my men not to give you a warning."

Winn turned to her friend, shocked. "How…why…?"

"Why would I let you squirm your way out of marriage again and put up with more of your moping –"

"Moping!"

Alex winced. "Poor choice of words, but the sentiment remains. You've been miserable, Freddy. Whether you could have argued your way out of this – which I doubt since Sparrow seems to have run out of patience with you –" Alex ignored Winn's dropped jaw and continued blithely on, "isn't the point. You would have been just as miserable even if you'd had warning, as you've been these last weeks. Frankly, I can't stand seeing it anymore. It's been killing me, and it's been killing you, and all this cleaning is nothing more than penance for walking out on Sparrow the first time. I'm not sure what you would have resorted to if you'd been allowed to do it a second time, and I don't care to find out. Just marry the blasted man already."

"I can't marry anyone until you find the bloody book," Winn grumbled. "Whether I want to or not." But she wanted to marry Jack…and that was the problem. "When all of this blows up in our faces, you're the first one I'm going to track down and wallop," she vowed.

"Don't be so pessimistic. It's unbecoming of a bride." Alex rose to his feet, book in hand. "Let's go wrap you up in the bonds of matrimony before your fiancé wears a hole in my deck."

"Jack's been pacing?" Winn asked, more than a little surprised. What cause did he have to be nervous? This was all his idea.

"More agitated than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Of course, part of that could be because I strongly suggested he bathe while you got ready." Alex gave Winn a crooked grin when all she did was blink at him. "A man ought to at least bathe on his wedding day."

"And he listened."

"I happen to be quite convincing when I want to be."

That finally won a little smile from Winn. "I know," she said dryly.

* * *

Jack _was _pacing the deck. He had one hand on his sword and his hat in the other. He ignored Gibbs as the older man tried to keep pace with him and muttered dire, last minute warnings. Wisdom be damned, he'd set his course and there was no changing it now. As he sent another heated glare at the closed door to Thompson's cabin, the door finally opened and Winn appeared. Jack saw her and for an instant he wondered what in all the seas he was doing here. Why wasn't he safely away on the _Pearl_ with the wind in his hair and the spray of the sea on his face? But the memory of Winn twining her fingers through his hair, of her sleeping breath brushing over his face steadied him.

Jack slammed his hat back on his head and strode over to meet her. She was wearing bridal blue, her hair loose except for a few pins keeping it out of her face. While her back was straight and her head held up proudly, her steps were just a little hesitant, and her hands were fisted in her skirts.

Winn felt her steps slow, and she came to a stop as Jack walked up to her and held out his hand. Neither of them said anything, but Winn watched as Jack's emotions ran in a nearly undetectable stream of motion across his eyes. The fact that he seemed just as uncertain as she allowed her to release her death grip on her skirts. She took the hand he held out to her. It was warm, rough and calloused, big enough to fully enclose hers. She studied his fingers; they were marginally cleaner than they usually were.

_Who was the last person to introduce him to a scrub brush I wonder._

"Second thoughts, lass?"

Jack's voice was rougher than usual, and Winn's head moved in a nervous toss. It was hard to tell whether she was nodding or shaking her head. "I didn't know I had that option."

Jack's eyes narrowed and suddenly he was towing her across the deck to where Alex stood, rifling through his book. "Let's begin, shall we?"

"Right…right…" Alex flipped through a few more pages and finally stopped. "Ah, here we are. Solemnization of Matrimony. I don't suppose the two of you would mind switching places?"

Jack rolled his eyes and stepped around Winn, reclaiming her hand when they were placed to Alex's liking.

"Better." Alex looked down and started reading. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation –"

Winn couldn't hold back her nervous laughter. Addressing this mass of hard-bitten pirates and sailors as "dearly beloved" was absurd.

Jack felt his own lips quirk. "Some liberties might be necessary, luv," he murmured.

"Clearly."

"If I might continue?" Alex asked. "This is the _solemnization_ of matrimony."

"By all means," Jack permitted.

"As I was saying, we are gathered to join together this Man and this Woman in holy matrimony. This is not a step to be taken lightly or wantonly, to satisfy men's carnal lusts and appetites –" He ignored Winn's disbelieving snort and the sharp glance Jack gave her. "– but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly – see, I told you – duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained.

"First, it was ordained for the procreation of children." This time Alex continued on over the pained grunt that Jack let out. "Secondly, it was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication –"

"Alex…" Winn groaned. Her cheeks were pink, and grew pinker as Jack winked at her in a flagrantly indecent way.

"Honestly, one would think you've never attended a wedding before. Would you please take this seriously?" Shaking his head, Alex tried to find his place. "Thirdly, it was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort that one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined. Therefore if any man can show any just cause for why they may not lawfully be joined together, let him now speak or else hereafter forever hold his peace."

Jack turned and caught Gibbs with a half raised hand and an open mouth.

"'Tis unlucky to be wed on a Thursday..." Gibbs trailed off under his captain's glare. "Well, say some. Superstitious bounders, likely."

"Indeed," Jack growled.

"Well, now that we've got that settled," Alex said, trying not to laugh. "Should I read the bit that requires the two of you to disclose any reasons why you shouldn't wed?" He had to look down as Jack turned his glare on him…then quickly glanced at Winn as if he thought she might speak if given the chance. "Moving along, then."

"Jack Sparrow –"

"_Captain."_

"Jack!"

"What?"

Alex interrupted before Winn could start an argument. "_Captain_ Jack Sparrow, will you take this woman as your wedded wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep yourself only for her, so long as you both shall live?"

Alex waited, his eyes trained on the page so he wouldn't lose his place, but there was no forthcoming answer. He cleared his throat meaningfully – was it really so hard to remember to say yes? – but still there was no reply. He looked up to find Jack looking at Winn speculatively. Winn saw Alex look up, then glanced at Jack herself. Her eyes narrowed and she growled low in her throat – she could guess what part Jack was having a hard time swallowing – and dug her nails into the back of his hand.

"What?" Jack yelped. "You wouldn't want me to lie, would you?"

"Jack! This was all your idea, so take your lumps like a man!" She swung her glare to Alex when her friend started coughing a little too strongly.

"Fine. Yes. Absolutely."

"Winifred Morgan," Alex said loudly before Winn could rip into Jack again. "Will you take this man as your wedded husband? Will you obey him, and serve him –"

"I like the sound of that," Jack interrupted.

"Don't get attached to it. I think Alex read it wrong," Winn growled.

Alex winced and tried to rephrase the vows. "Will you…listen to his wise counsel and…assist him –"

"Why does she get to change the vows?" Jack objected.

"Because she's more threatening. And she'll hold it against you if I don't."

"Excellent point."

"I thought so. Will you listen to his wise counsel, and assist him, love, honor – Winn! I didn't write these! Take it up with the Anglican church if you dislike the phrasing – and keep him in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, keep yourself only for him, so long as you both shall live?"

"I will," Winn said, still growling.

"Excellent. Let's exchange vows, shall we? Jack, turn to face Winn and repeat after me."

Winn's displeasure faded as Jack caught her eyes. She barely heard Alex feeding Jack his lines as Jack rubbed his thumb reassuringly against the back of her hand. His other hand came up and cupped her cheek and she gasped a little as his heat soaked into her skin. "I, Captain Jack Sparrow take thee Winifred Morgan to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from his day forward –" Winn marveled at the triumphant look in his eye and his slight smirk. He looked like a man who'd won a prize desired by many others. "For better for worse, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part. To you I give you my pledge."

Winn felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest. He sounded so _serious_, so _sincere_. So certain. And what reasons did she have to trust him? The debatable testimony of an abnormal compass?

"Freddy?" Winn looked at Alex, nearly in a panic. "Relax. Just repeat after me."

"Right." Winn took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Watching Jack just made things worse. "I, Winn Morgan take thee Jack Sparrow to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward…" Where Jack's voice had been strong, hers was barely above a whisper. In the back of her mind she knew that no one but Jack and Alex could hear her, but she couldn't make herself speak any louder. "…To you I give my pledge."

"You can open you eyes now, lass," Jack said after a few moments, though he was thankful he'd had the time to hide his amusement. "The worst is over."

_Ha,_ Winn thought wildly. _A lifetime of marriage ahead of us and he says the worst is over._ But she did open her eyes. "What now?"

"The ring," Alex answered.

Jack frowned, having forgotten all about a ring. He hadn't exactly planned on getting married today. In fact, he hadn't gotten a ring even when he'd planned on marrying her the first time. Somehow that seemed of much less importance than actually getting _married._

"Umm…well, now..." He let go of Winn long enough to pull a newly acquired ring off his pinky.

"It'll do for the moment," Alex said quickly.

Winn allowed her hand to be taken – was there really any reason to resist at this point? – and Jack deliberated for a moment before he slid the ring onto her thumb, the only finger it wouldn't immediately slide off.

"With this ring, I thee wed, with my body I thee worship –" he smirked as Winn flushed scarlet, "– and with all my worldly goods I thee endow." The smirk spread into a grin as Winn, despite her embarrassment, met his gaze and raised an eyebrow in rebuke of how those worldly goods were gained.

"Those whom God has joined together let no man put asunder." Alex turned the page. "Hold on, there's a bit more. Forasmuch as Jack and Winn have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and have given and pledged their troth to each other, and have declared the same by the giving and receiving of a ring, and by joining hands; I pronounce you man and wife.

"Lord, have mercy on us."

"Alex!" Winn said, appalled that he'd add that on.

"It's in the book!" Alex flipped the book around and pointed at the line.

Winn rolled her eyes, but couldn't really argue. "Are we finished?"

"Well, there are several prayers…"

"Bad luck to skip weddin' prayers," muttered someone in the crowd. The rest of the men all started muttering the same and nodding their heads.

"Sailors," Winn muttered under her breath. "Fine. _One_ prayer."

"Let's see… Ah, here's a good one." Alex grinned, knowing that Winn was going to love this. "Look mercifully on these your servants, that both this man may love his wife and also that this woman may be loving and amiable, faithful and obedient to her husband; and in all quietness –"

"Alexander Thompson!" Winn yelled, stepping away from Jack so that she could pull the book out of her friend's hands.

"– sobriety, and peace, be a follower of holy and godly matron –" Alex managed to say before he had to pull the book out of Winn's reach. "I think you'd better kiss the bride," he instructed Jack as Winn started pulling on his arm.

"Gladly." Jack spun Winn around and locked his arms around her.

"You _would_ side with him," Winn accused before Jack kissed her. She clobbered him for good measure – not that she was able to work up much of a clobber – then kissed him back because she might as well get something out of this.

* * *

**A/N II**: just in case anyone was wondering, I do love getting fanart. :P 


	24. Chapter 23

**Author's Note:** well, I didn't do too badly, did I? Less than a month later and I'm getting an update out. Can't remember the last time I was that speedy. ;)

So, from where I am now, I can say with almost absolute certainty, that there's only a chapter left of this story. _This_ story. Winn does, after all, have a treasure map still. :D I would be interested though in hearing what you all _might_ want to see happen in a second, completely new fic. I have ideas but no _real_ plot beyond "Jack and Winn look for treasure." Mainly I have these little scenes that keep popping up in my head.

Anyway, don't look for the next update too terribly soon. I wrote most of this chapter over break, and now that school's back in session that means more drawing and homework and less time for writing.

* * *

There was an inherent difference in kissing someone to whom you were you were legally wed, which Jack took his time exploring. Winn was agreeably responsive in his arms, if a little subdued. Of course, circumstances being what they were, even that little bit of submissiveness was gratifying. Almost exactly what he was looking for in a woman, he congratulated himself. A sweet little bundle in the arms, a responsive nature – a little _too _responsive at times if one considered her temper…or failed to consider it as the case might be; strong enough to stand up to or with him, disciplined enough to know when not to.

Though, again, that was if her temper was left out of the equation and whether or not he'd done anything to rouse it.

Still, Jack figured that he'd come out ahead of the game. He was grinning when he let Winn break away from him. The way she was breathing heavily pleased him immensely. Jack nuzzled her neck, delighting in her shiver. Sadly, she all too predictably shrugged him away after that.

"Come now, lass. Don't be shy. We're married now."

Winn's teeth looked very sharp as she bared them in a parody of a smile. "Dead men tell no tales, Sparrow."

His approval of the fire in her eye overwhelmed the fleeting thought that along the way to the altar he may have made a slight miscalculation. There were even roses in her too-thin cheeks. Well, he could take care of that at least. He rather fancied keeping her abed while he fed her. He could just see it now… Winnie leaning back on rumpled pillows, hair flowing down bare shoulders, lips parted as she accepted a choice tidbit from his hand and her sheet starting to slip as she leaned forward to –

"What's that?"

Winn's sharp voice popped Jack's daydream, He looked down to find her staring at the western horizon with eyes narrowed to guard against the sun. She was tense in his arms, and suddenly clinging to him. Jack followed her gaze to find what so disturbed her only to see a speck coming out of the westering sun. "Alex…?"  
Jack let Winn go as he turned to inspect the sails. Both the _Pearl_ and the _Fortune's Run_ were at anchor, their sails furled against what had become a stiff breeze. The wind was coming from the nor-west catching all the flags the _Fortune's Run_ was flying. They at least would be identified as a legitimate vessel.

Winn reappeared at Jack's elbow a spyglass in her hand. Jack watched as she searched for the vessel, waited as she observed it and formed conclusions about its importance. He knew she was capable of acting with a level head, and this was a situation that would arise over and over while she lived with him. He had to know now whether or not he could trust her judgment.

"Well?" he asked when she remained silent.

She sighed, as if impatient with his question. "Second-rate ship of the line, which I assume from the amount of sails she's unfurled, the flags she's flying, and her coloration. It's a little far west for the Royal Navy's regular patrols, or so I gather from what I've heard from Marcus, but then I assume that you haven't been an angel lately. Whether or not they've seen us and are heading for our position or whether they're simply trying to make good time, I can't say." She handed over the glass, as if challenging Jack to dispute her conclusions.

_She likes to design ships,_ Jack suddenly remembered as he observed the challenge in her eyes. _Her entire family sails and she plays at designing ships._

"Aye, it's the navy," Jack agreed almost as soon as he found the ship. "The_Dauntless_ if I'm not mistaken."

"And your opinion as for whether or not they've seen us?" Winn sounded slightly pacified.

"You yourself said they were comin' towards us." Jack waited for Alex to take his turn with the spyglass before turning to the other man with a question in his eyes.

"Aye, the _Run_ will keep position here," Alex confirmed. "They'll have to stop and give aid. I can stall them until sundown at the very least. Longer if their commanding officer is a cautious man."

"Right." Jack grabbed Winn's hand when she would have left his side. "Where do you think you're going?"

Winn looked at him as if she suspected him being purposefully difficult. "If there's anyone aboard the _Dauntless_ who knows me, they might be suspicious of my finery." Jack didn't say anything. He just_looked_ at her. "Jack! We don't have time for this. You have to _go_."

"We seem to be laboring under opposing notions, luv," Jack drawled as if he had all the time in the world. "Whatever happened to 'where you go I go'?"

"Jack, the navy wants your head. You can't stay here."

Now it was Jack's turn to suspect Winn of being deliberately obtuse.

"Freddy." It was Alex who stepped in and said what Winn didn't want to hear. Just because she'd gotten married this afternoon didn't mean she had any intention of honoring her agreement with good grace. And she was right about one thing – Jack didn't have time for this. "Freddy, you're leaving with Captain Sparrow."

Her brow furrowed as if she'd honestly forgotten that. Perhaps in her concern for Sparrow she had. Perhaps not. Alex just felt lucky that he wasn't the man who had to straighten that mess out.

"But what about you, Alex?"

"Well, assuming I don't get arrested for abetting a known pirate, I'll go back to the Point and inform your family of your recent good luck. Now, go bring your things out so Sparrow's crew can transfer them to the_Pearl._ Unless you'd prefer going with only one change of clothing."

"I know I'd prefer it," Jack muttered under his breath as he followed Winn back to Thompson's cabin. He knew that he himself had spent a perfectly – well, almost perfectly – innocent week cohabitating with Winn in his cabin on the _Pearl,_ but it rankled that she was doing the same with an acquaintance as longstanding as Thompson. He believed her when she said that the blond wasn't her lover, but he didn't believe that if the decision had been left to Thompson that Winn would still be able to say the same. He would be relieved to get Winn off the ship and was already annoyed that she was acting to do so on the command of someone _not_ her husband.

_For the love of –_Getting married was supposed to have simplified things, not amplified them.

Once inside the cabin, Winn came to a stop as if lost. Jack stopped just short of running into her. "What's wrong, luv?"

"Your crew doesn't seem eager to bring a woman on board –"

Jack snorted. "My crew will prove eager enough to do anything that would improve my mood."

Winn couldn't help but flinch. _She_ wasn't about to do anything what would improve his mood. "Nevertheless – Jack, I think you should go on without me." The silence inside of the cabin became brittle almost, though Winn didn't know if that were really so or just a reflection of what she felt. She waited anxiously for Jack to roar at her – was it his displeasure she felt or only her own apprehension? – to do something to break the awful silence she'd caused, but he said nothing. "It's not exactly uncommon for sailors to leave wives behind when they go to sea," Winn said quickly, hoping that his silence meant he was willing to listen to reason. "If you were in the Navy or the merchant marines, it would take all sorts of dispensations to allow for me to travel with you. But you're not_ in_ the Navy. The Navy is _after_ you, and I'm not sure they'd make many dispensations for any who travel with you, even if they're a wife."

_Excuses._ Jack had to grip the edge of the table he was leaning against before he went over to shake some sense into the woman. He couldn't believe she was doing this. How long did she possibly think she could run? And how many times would he have to block her path before she got it through her _thick skull _that –

Winn, though cowed by Jack's continued silence, finally turned to face her new husband. "Won't you say anything?" she pleaded.

"What would you have me say, luv?" There was a smile on Jack's face, though Winn thought it was there only because of habit. It certainly didn't reach his eyes. "Seems you've made up your mind."

Winn had to turn away from his bleak gaze. She started pacing back and forth, her hands grasped tightly behind her back. Her mind whirled, trying to think of a way to make him understand. If he only understood, he would wouldn't look at her with those empty eyes.

"Can you swim, Jack? In deep water? Water that's over your head?"

"Yes, luv."

Oh… _Why_ did he have to use that gentle tone that was so at odds at the gaze she could feel between her shoulders. He barely sounded as if he were even in the room with her anymore. "I can't, Jack. I panic when I get in over my head."

"You think I'd let you drown?"

At least he understood the metaphor. "I think you're the water, Jack," she whispered. Her hands tightened on themselves until they ached.

"Well." Jack rubbed the back of his neck. That was that, he supposed. He'd gambled against the lady's fears and lost. He'd staked more than he'd expected to, but that was life. He could hardly accuse Winn of leading him on, of giving him false hope. Not when every concession she'd made to him had been under persuasion.

"I'm sorry, Jack." She wasn't making an apology as much as she was making a statement. Her tone said that she wasn't going to fight. That she saw no purpose in fighting.

"So am I." Jack turned and left before he could say something sickingly emotional, like she was ripping out his little-evidenced heart, or that she was already drowning without his help.

"Men, we're leaving." Jack didn't think he raised his voice, but his crew scrambled to reboard the _Pearl_. He stood watching them as he listened for any sign of life inside the cabin he'd just left. He didn't know what he wanted to hear. Just some sign that she was struggling. Some sign of regret.

But Winn was silent.

He honestly hadn't expected anything less. Or more. Not really.

"Sparrow?"

Jack strode away. The last thing he wanted to do was explain things to Thompson. Yet pride demanded he do something to save face.

"Winn has elected to stay behind." No, that was too angry. "We decided to our mutual agreement that we would better suit one another if we spent as little time together as possible." There, that should set the right tone of unity.

"The two of you decided together." Thompson sounded skeptical.

"Aye."

Alex cursed, not taken by the fabrication. "That's it. I'm taking her back to her grandparents. Maybe Isabella can talk some sense into her. Unless you'd rather hogtie her and make the attempt yourself."

"It's a tempting offer." Jack had already considered tossing her over his shoulder – again – and carting her off to the _Black Pearl_. As long as he avoided familiar ports, he'd be able to keep her confined until she came about. If he'd thought it'd do any good he wouldn't have hesitated. But that's what he'd been doing in one way or another from the beginning, and to date his successes were less than remarkable.

"Sparrow?"

"Eh?"

Alex looked at the pirate captain, taking note of his unfocused eyes and the careful way he held himself. _I'm going to murder Freddy._ Or at least he would if she were in any better shape than Sparrow. "If you're certain your business with Winn is concluded, your men are waiting for you."

"Excellent."

* * *

Alex found Winn sitting on the floor of his cabin, staring at the book in her hands. He was momentarily puzzled by her lack of tears. Then he saw the emptiness in her eyes – a match for Sparrow's unfocused gaze – and then he just got upset.

With her.

He slammed the door, eyes narrowing when she started sorting the books he'd pulled out earlier.

"You're a bloody idiot. A stubborn, foolish, _childish_ –" She dragged another stack of books towards her, thumping them against the floor and each other as she sorted them furiously. "I'm of a good mind to toss you overboard. What were you _thinking_, Freddy? You married the bloody man, for the love of God. Have you no sense at all? You can't _do_ that to a man."

"Jack will be fine," Winn whispered, more to herself than to Alex. "He'll forget about me soon enough. He's –"

"Gutted. Devastated. I might even go so far as to say brokenhearted."

"Don't, Alex."

"Oh, stop being so bloody selfish."

Winn slammed the entire stack against the floor in a fit of emotion. "Selfish! _He's_ the one with the Royal navy on his tail and no plans to stop making them want his head!"

"_You're_ the one who promised to stick by his side until death parted you only to leave him at the first sign of trouble!" Alex ripped off the coat he'd put on in honor of the occasion and threw it on the floor. "What's _wrong_ with you? I hardly know you anymore! The Freddy I knew would never run from mere _trouble_! You attract more than your fair share so it's not as if you're not used to handling it. You –"

"I love him!" Winn shouted, stunning Alex into silence. "I love him, and he's going to get himself killed!"

Well, what was he supposed to say to that? Alex watched as Winn picked up his coat and draped it over the table. Her hands were shaking. He tried to calm down, tried to push the rest of the angry words he'd worked up out of his head. "You love him," he repeated, trying to think this through.

"Yes," Winn replied, wrapping her arms around herself in an effort to find some comfort.

"And you don't want him to die."

"Don't use that tone with me, Alex. I'm not simple. I _know_ that sooner or later for one reason or another we all die. But he pushes his luck, and if I went with him… My father died. Mama didn't witness it, but it destroyed her all the same. What if I were _there_, Alex?"

"That's what's stopping you? You _are_ an imbecile."

"Will you stop insulting me!"

"Then stop being stupid!" Alex stopped and eyed her suspiciously. "You didn't tell him you prefer being scared over his company, did you?"

Winn shuffled her feet, uncomfortable with the question. "Not exactly –"

Alex cursed and threw his coat against the wall where it fell to the floor. Again. He grabbed her shoulders before she could go pick it up. "Look at me!" He shook her and was shaken himself when she finally met his eyes. _She's going to bleed to death inside._ He couldn't let her stay here. "He's leaving, Winn. He's leaving right now, and if you let him go, you'll never have another chance with him." Finally Alex could see the wheels turning in her head, breaking through whatever numbness she'd seeped herself in. "Go to him."

"It's too late," she whispered, but once again she wasn't speaking to him.

"It's not."

"He won't have me."

"He certainly won't if you stay here."

"I couldn't…"

"That's not the Freddy I know talking. Be reckless, Freddy." Alex cautiously let her go. "You love him," he whispered.

_I love him._ "I'm an idiot," Winn moaned, unable to believe her own stupidity. How many times was she going to make Jack come crawling to her before she dared believe that he might want her? Good lord, any other man would have given up weeks ago. She gathered her skirts in her hands and rushed out of the cabin. She immediately saw that the _Pearl's_ crew was highly motivated. The ship was already starting to inch away from the _Fortune's Run_.

"Jack!" The_Pearl_ was moving too fast and however reckless she might be, Winn knew she couldn't possibly leap the distance. Calling Jack's name again, Winn dropped her skirts as the rail approached and prepared to catch herself against it. But dropping her skirts was a mistake because her feet tangled in them, and instead of catching herself against the rail she flipped over it.

* * *

Winn sank like a rock. Suddenly her concerns about metaphorical drowning and Jack's theoretical demise were moot. She was _literally_ drowning, and any thoughts of future death were overruled by the immediacy of her own if someone didn't come to her rescue _right now…_

But rescue wasn't coming quickly enough to suit her burning lungs. Winn kicked furiously, trying to reach the surface but her skirts clung to her legs. _This is __**so**__ ironic,_ Winn thought as she struggled to reach the laces at the back of her gown. _Bad luck to be married on a Thursday indeed._ The water-swollen laces knotted under her desperate fingers and she sank deeper.

An arm wrapped around her from behind, crossing over her breasts and gripping under her arm. Winn grabbed hold of it and did her best to calm the panic that was fueling her struggles. It was _hard_. They moved upwards so _slowly_ and she wanted to fight to go faster but she remembered all the times Ry had told her what to do if someone had to rescue her – which happened with insulting regularity considering the strength of her swimming skills – and tried to go limp.

Winn gasped as soon as her nose broke the surface. She inhaled as much water as she did air. Coughing, choking, gasping and pulling against the arm that now rode against her throat, she struggled to catch her breath. Whoever had her – a man from the voice cursing in her ear – pulled her closer and forced her head back. She could feel the sea fill her ears again, and she thrashed as her lungs still worked to force water out. Slowly she relaxed when she realized she wasn't in immediate danger of going under again; her face was being kept above the waves. As her coughs grew less frequent she was able to listen to the voice that was haranguing her.

"– stubborn, idiotic, _reckless_ –"

"Alex said all that already," Winn gasped, coughing a little at the end. She only realized they'd been moving when they stopped…and immediately started to sink. With a few clear breaths inside her, Winn's struggles now had some meaning behind them.

"Hold still," the man growled and Winn fought to go still again.

"Jack, I'm sorry," she blurted, able to say what she needed as long as she couldn't meet his face. "I'm so sorry. I –"

"Stop it. I saw you trip."

"No, Jack –"

"Hush." Contrary to the meaning of the word, his voice was hard and harsh.

"I was wrong!" She flinched when something nearby slapped against the water and splashed her face.

"What?"

His tone was sharp, not with anger but with incredulity. "I was wrong," Winn repeated in a quieter voice. She agonized over her words. It was hard to apologize, harder still to imagine her apology being dismissed out of hand if she spoke wrong. "And stupid." Maybe that would soften him. "And I'll probably be wrong and stupid again because I _am_ stubborn. Too stubborn. I –"

"You can stop now, Winnie."

The return of her nickname encouraged her – a little – but he still sounded irritated.

"Did I mention I…"_That I love you?_ "…I'm sorry."

"I assume this has something to do with why Thompson didn't bother helping you. Hang on."

Before Winn could ask what he meant, they were pulled out of the water. How he expected her to hang on to someone who was behind her Winn wasn't sure. She did reach up, groping behind her to get a hand on the rope at least to help support some of her weight. Jack's quota of patience was likely used up for the foreseeable future by her reckoning, and most – if not all – of that was at her account. Falling back into the water would probably be a poor idea.

The trip was uncomfortable and slow. They bounced off the side of the _Pearl_ several times and her arm was cramping by the time they were pulled over the rail and onto the deck. Winn laid there gasping like a newly landed fish as she worked the sore muscles of her hand and arm. Jack sat by her for a time, sharing her puddle of water as he did the same. She watched him warily. He hadn't allowed her say everything she'd wanted to, and what she had said hadn't come out as eloquently as she'd wished. She didn't know what he'd do now, couldn't guess at what he was thinking.

Eventually – or perhaps it was only a short time later – Jack pulled Winn to her feet. She could feel the weight of her sodden clothes pulling at her shoulders. Ugh, her skirts and underskirts were clammy and still clinging to her legs. There were enough layers to keep her from being completely indecent, but Winn didn't quite feel comfortable standing on the deck in front of the interested eyes of Jack's crew either.

Jack looked at his dripping, shivering, pitiful wreck and sighed. She looked like a dog who expected a beating…

"Where's that mutt of yours?"

Winn's eyes widened. "She's on the _Run_." She turned helplessly, only to find that the _Pearl_ was closer to the _Fortune's Run_ than she'd assumed. Jack's crew must have dropped anchor when he'd dived in after her. "Jack…?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Jack?"

It should have been impossible, but Winn looked even more pathetic as she looked longingly towards the other ship. Jack growled, but didn't have the heart to say no again. There were going to be times she'd be grateful for a companion aboard his ship. And times he'd be more grateful still that she had a companion whose company he didn't have to worry about her enjoying. "Men, lower one of the launches."

"And my clothes too?" Winn asked, wondering just how much she could ask for before Jack decided it would be easier to send her over instead.

"And her trunks."

"Thank you, Jack."

He growled again and led her off the deck. Winn was grateful for that as well. She was starting to shiver in the wind.

_Wind…_ "Are we going to be able to outrun the _Dauntless_?"

Jack thought about telling her not to worry, considering he partially blamed their last discussion of the navy for her sudden about face earlier. But he looked down and saw that she was already worried and would probably remain so even if he told her not to.

"If they stop to give assistance to the _Fortune's Run_, and should your friend Thompson be able to delay them, and if they don't try to sail after us in the dark, then the _Pearl_ stands a good chance."

He could see Winn turning things over in her mind and wondered what conclusions she was coming to. He guessed at their direction when she glanced over her shoulder at the _Fortune's Run_, then down at her still dripping clothing.

"I've delayed you."

Jack wished Winn would stop making uncomfortable observations that left him scrambling for a reply. Agreeing with her seemed heartless when she was displaying regret. Saying that she hadn't delayed them would be a lie, and she'd know it as one. Yet he couldn't tell her the delay was worthwhile because she'd made him leery of telling her anything of the sort. It only made her run.

He opened the doors of his cabin and ushered Winn inside. "We need to get you out of your wet things."

"What about you?" He was just as wet as –

"Was that an invitation?" Jack could have sworn that Winn flushed to the roots of her hair. Watching her, his humor returned in a slow trickle. "Relax, luv. I don't harbor evil intentions on your virtue. I'm your husband now. Enjoying each other is practically a holy mandate."

"You and the word holy don't even belong in the same room," she muttered in defiance of her embarrassment.

"You know, Winnie, I used to be a priest."

"I don't suppose you took a vow of celibacy by any chance."

"No." Jack turned Winn so that her back was to him. He studied the mess her laces had become, the knots small and pulled tight. He tried to untangle one of them, but got nowhere. "How attached are you to this dress?"

Winn looked down. Satin and salt water did not mix well. "It's already ruined, if that's what you're asking."

"More or less." Jack unsheathed his dagger. "Hold still. No, don't turn around. I just told you to be still." He turned her back around. "If the dress is ruined then I can't do more damage, now can I? Now don't move." He slit the laces and sheathed his knife so he could help Winn struggle out of the gown. Together their hands worked the laces of her petticoats. She shivered as they fell to the floor and she stepped out of them. Jack would have gladly removed more but Winn bent and started squeezing water out of her shift. He watched as she ripped off her stockings – her slippers hadn't made it aboard with her – and then started wringing her hair.

"Might I have a towel, Jack?"

"Hmm?"

Winn turned and gave him a strange look. "A towel…" She trailed off when she saw the heat in his eyes. "Jack?"

"Don't…move…"

Winn swallowed hard as Jack stalked towards her. Before he even reached her she was having difficultly breathing, more than could be blamed on her corset. It wasn't laced tightly, considering she'd had to do it herself. Her eyes drifted closed as his lips brushed over her brows. Her next breath carried the sent of him deep into her lungs…he smelled wet, mostly. When he nuzzled her ear she shivered, and she reached blindly for him when he gave her earlobe a little lovebite.

"I thought you didn't bite," she gasped, throat working when she realized she could taste him on the back of her tongue.

"That was before."

"Oh." She moved closer to him. His clothing was just as wet as hers, yet his skin was far warmer and she was chilled.

Jack teased her with kisses and soft nips until she let out a soft sound of frustration. He laughed, not unkindly but at her expense all the same. "Were you wearing this the entire time, lass?" he asked as his fingers followed a chain around the curve of her neck. It ended in a pendant just above her breasts. For the life of him he couldn't say what the stone was, but its location was what was important…not its material worth.

"Yes."

"It's very pretty."

"Th-thank you." Winn fought to slow her heart and lungs. Every inhalation brought her skin in contact with Jack's fingers and every touch sent fire through her blood.

"Pretty as it is though, it's not what caught my notice."

"It's not?"

Jack had to smile at the tension in her voice. "No, it's not." His fingers trailed further down, almost bypassing her chest and dragging down her stomach until they found the edge of her corset. "Though I do envy its placement." He felt her shiver as he skimmed up her ribcage.

"Pirate," she accused weakly.

He laughed again. "It's not your jewelry I want for my own, Winnie." His hand came to rest over her heart and Winn froze under his hand. Jack almost groaned when he felt her pulse racing under his palm and he couldn't help but look down.

Winn watched in confusion as Jack blinked several times and started to frown. Stung, she shrugged away from him but stopped short when he tangled his hand in her hair. She didn't know what to think when he pulled it away from the back of her neck and ran his fingers over her skin.

Jack didn't know what to think either as he studied the rash covering Winn's shoulders. He'd been too focused on her body before to notice it until he'd looked down at the hand pillowed on her…

He groaned – this time in frustration – as he forced his mind back to the mystery at hand. The rash was worse where her hair had been laying against her skin, and as he pulled at the neck of her shift he could see it was also worse where the fabric of her clothing had been rubbing against her skin. All of a sudden the violence she'd used to tear off her stockings made more sense.

"I can't be so fortunate," he said as he let her go. He was glad to see that Winn was only puzzled when she turned around to face him again.

"What are you talking about?"

"You can't possibly be allergic to clothing."

Winn blinked a few times, then looked down at her bare arms. She was covered in tiny red pinpricks. The rash started itching like mad, as if it'd been waiting to have her full attention before becoming inflamed.

"Sea water," she muttered, chafing her arms and covering as much of her bare skin as she could. "I'm allergic to salt water."

Jack sighed. "I knew I wouldn't get that lucky."

Rubbing at her rash only made things worse, but Winn couldn't stop. She ground her palms against her chest until the skin there throbbed and hunched her shoulders in misery...then rubbed at her thighs. Where before the heat dancing over her skin had been exciting, now it was aggravating.

Jack grabbed her hands, ignoring her grimace. "What do you need?"

_A bath._ But she doubted the _Pearl's_ stores could afford that luxury. "A pitcher of clean water and a cloth."

Jack nodded, and watched her carefully as he released her hands. When he was certain she wasn't going to start scratching again – at least not as long as he could see her – he turned to leave the cabin.

Things went downhill from there.

First it was the gray furball that escaped from the man who'd somehow carried it up the ladder. Jack would have tied it in a sack for the trip and considered doing so still as Pige bounced around his feet yapping and wagging her tail and leaping up to lick at his hands. Then as soon as he managed to get the little pest inside the cabin he was left to direct the men who had to unload Winn's things…and then stow the supplies that a helpful Thompson had sent over. Of course, first he had to grill his men to ensure that they _had_ been sent by Thompson and not just liberated. But the men claimed the other captain had sent the food and water along, saying it was Winn's share of rations from the _Fortune's Run_. And while that at least made it easy to decide where Winn's wash water was going to come from, Jack had to then argue with sailors who likely didn't bathe more than once a year, if that, over the use of water for matters of cleanliness.

It was Gibbs who brought the straw that broke the camel's back. "The _Dauntless_ is comin' up fast, Jack. What do you want to do?"

"Why don't we dally here and wait for an invitation to tea?" Jack snarled. "What d'you think I want to do? Drop full canvas and set sail for any direction that puts us out of their sight."

"Aye, Capt'n. And our heading?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I decide it."

Jack was in a bad mood by the time he made it back to his cabin, and it worsened when he stepped inside. Winn had dressed in dry clothing and she was holding a pitcher over her head with an arm that trembled as she attempted to rinse her hair. He looked around for the mutt and watched suspiciously as the canine made a slow circuit around the room. Her wuffling was loud in the quiet.

"She's not going to piss on anything, is she?"

"I've got her box trained," Winn said, her voice muffled as she bent over the basin.

Well, that at least explained the crate he'd seen his men carrying below deck. And he had to admit when the mutt came over and sat at his feet, tail stirring gently, that perhaps she wasn't as awful as he'd supposed.

"Want some help with that?"

Winn set the pitcher down with a thud and stared at him through her parted hair. Her eyes were suspicious. Jack just pasted a benign smile on his face and stripped off his boots. "Aren't you needed on deck?" she asked.

"If I need to spur my crew on to elude capture, then I most definitely deserve to be caught for being a poor judge of even more deprived characters." Jack took off his vest next, and started to remove his shirt but stopped when Winn acted as if she were going to get up. _Still skittish then._ "Washin' your hair over that basin looks a mite awkward," he said, redirecting her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"A little," she admitted, still watching him. Her suspicion turned into thoughtfulness.

"Well then, allow me." Jack knelt by her side. It was a moment before she stopped watching him and again bowed her head over the basin.

The intimacy of the act surprised Jack. He'd never dreamed he might wash a woman's hair, much less that he might _want_ to. Most women of his acquaintance dolled out a cheaper sort of intimacy. And yet, like the difference between kissing a woman and kissing a wife, there was something inside of him that responded to seeing to Winn's needs.

Winn was left shaken as well. The last person to wash her hair for her had been her mother. She remembered the quick, rough care of knuckles scrubbing her scalp. But Jack… He took his time, running his fingers through her hair and massaging her scalp until her eyes drifted close. Water trickled through her hair and down into the basin in a slow stream. This was not quick. And while her knees protested – the floor was hard – her heart softened.

Jack set the empty pitcher down almost regretfully. As Winn started wringing the water out, he reached for the towel she'd placed nearby. Twice he pulled it away when she would have taken it from him, wanting to dry her himself.

"Are you going to comb it for me too?" Winn gently teased when he lowered the towel. She didn't know what to make of this Jack, the man the pirate became when taking a bride. She didn't know what to do about the possessive light in his eyes, whether to be flattered or insulted…though she was leaning heavily towards the former.

"Let's get you up off the floor first, luv."

Winn let him help her up, allowed him to lead her to a trunk she could sit on. She pulled Pige up into her lap where the puppy sighed and settled in for a nap while Jack started dragging her comb through her hair.

"I'm sorry I panicked." Winn figured it stood saying again. She almost regretted it when Jack's hand paused in the midst of its steady strokes. Holding her breath, Winn prayed he wouldn't brush her off this time. Alright, so in the middle of the ocean between two ships moving with a steady wind might not have been the best setting for her first apology, but they were hardly in any sort of physical danger now…unless one considered the pursuing _Dauntless…_

"Why did you?"

Winn let her breath out slowly when Jack resumed his grooming. Of course, then she couldn't answer right away either, because she was too scared to tell him she loved him. What if he took it badly?"

"You'll think I'm silly."

"Maybe."

Apparently that wasn't a good enough reason to keep her mouth shut. Winn almost wished he would start being uncooperative again. It had almost made this whole business easier.

"I'm not a brave person, Jack. Foolish, stubborn, angry more likely that not…yes. But also scared."

"Of?'

He had that far away sound in his voice again. "Not of you. Or at least…not directly." Winn winced. "That didn't quite come out the way I'd planned. It's just…if you died…"

"Who's talking about anyone dying?"

"Oh, don't be dense." Her nervous fingers tugged softly on Pige's ruff. "The_Dauntless_ is chasing us, and should they come within firing range, will use whatever force deemed necessary to apprehend you. And once apprehended, they will hang you. Do you think I relish that knowledge?"

"At times."

The dratted man sounded amused. "Only if I get to do it myself," she muttered.

"Was that all you were scared of?"

"It was the most immediate fear," she conceded grudgingly.

"And the least immediate? Or were there more than two?"

"I don't understand why you married me," Winn muttered.

Jack waited for the rest, but nothing more was forthcoming. "Spit it out, luv."

"I don't know why you married me, I don't know why you'd want to, and I don't know if I can even trust whatever reason you had." The statement wasn't so much a complaint as it was a salvo.

Her defiance was like a kitten standing u to the neighborhood cur: all ruffled fur and tiny claws. Jack had an urge to pet her like the cat she reminded him of but didn't want to evade any swipes.

So he simply took her weapons away.

"Will knowing put you at ease, Winnie?" he asked, knowing she'd immediately retreat. "Will it settle your fears? Calm your shattered nerves?"

"My nerves aren't shattered and that wasn't any kind of answer."

Jack wrapped his hand in her loose hair and gently pulled Winn's head back until he could see her eyes. "You don't want to hear the answer I have to give," he said quietly.

Winn eyed him suspiciously. "I don't know when to believe you or when to call your bluff."

"I trust you'll learn fast enough." Jack amused himself by pressing light kisses on her lips, nose, and cheeks.

"I hope you're not humoring me," Winn eventually grumbled.

"I'd never presume."

"Liar."

She was learning already. "Honestly, luv. Why would I humor you when my time would be better spent seducing you? No, don't run."

As if she'd even had a chance, Winn reflected from the confines of his arms, not quite sure how she'd ended up in them. Given time, he might actually make a decent husband. What she doubted was her ability to make a decent wife. Especially when her heart was beating with anxiety that was difficult to distinguish from panic.

"Don't you think it's a little early for…that?"

The pitchy tremble in her voice would have been endearing if Jack didn't find it cause for concern. Winn was honestly alarmed. Part of him – the pirate, naturally – wanted to let her go before he had to deal with any kind of tears or any other kind of messy female reaction. Why should he make himself responsible for her fears? The other part of him – the unreasonable, possessive part – _wanted_ her fears. Or rather, resented that she put her fears before him.

They had to go.

"What are you scared of, Winnie?" How many times would he have to ask that question before she started trusting him with her answers? Ruefully, he shook his head, knowing that he could ask her that all night and still she would hesitate, as she was doing now. _Stubborn to the last._ He pulled her to the table and sat down, tumbling her into his lap when she didn't find her own seat fast enough to suit him. Besides, he reasoned, he was more likely to get the truth out of her this way. The way she tucked herself into him was encouraging, though the way she hid her face was less so.

"We're going to have a talk, you and I," he warned her. "Not the way I'd prefer to spend my wedding night, but I've faced worse."

"The sun's still up," Winn muttered against his chest.

"So it is. I suppose there's still hope for a happy conclusion to the day. What are you scared of?" He received no answer. "I'm serious, Winnie. We'll sit her all night if that's what it takes." Not that he wasn't above…encouraging her. And her bare legs _were_ right there, bare and caressable. He could hardly be blamed for taking advantage of the situation.

Feeling goaded, Winn shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know how to do any of this," she finally conceded. "I don't know what to do, and even if I did, I wouldn't know _how_ to do it." Her legs moved restlessly, first away from him then falling still when his fingers followed.

"I don't expect you to know what to do." Jack wrapped his fingers around her ankle, then shifted his hand so he was holding her foot; it wasn't much bigger than his palm. He stroked his thumb along her instep, pressing into the soft flesh and smiling a little as she relaxed a bit in his arms. "I suspect we'll muddle through somehow." He rubbed along the ball of her foot and his smile became self-satisfied as Winn sighed and became a little more boneless. "There now, we're not managing too poorly."

"Jack?" He couldn't help but notice that most of the tension was gone from her voice. Then her lips brushed against his skin and Jack was left with little capacity to notice anything else. "Jack…I'm still nervous."

"About?" His hand left her foot and trailed up her shin, curling around to her calf.

"That," Winn whispered as she anxiously flexed her calf. "Muddling doesn't sound very…comfortable."

He reached her knee and it felt like a triumph. His fingers brushed against the delicate hollow behind it. Jack felt her shiver, then shivered himself as she shifted again in his lap. "Oh…well, I suspect there'll be little muddling when it comes to _that._"

This time when he kissed her, there were no more arguments.


	25. Chapter 24

Jack lay on his back in his bed, one arm tucked underneath his head as he smiled with drowsy contentment at the ceiling

**Author's Note:** gah! Here it is, finally! I swear, this entire chapter was first written on notebook paper and then typed up. There were days when I had ten or twelve sheets of notebook paper folded up in my purse, waiting for me to have time to type them up. But the term is finally over, it is the first day of spring break, and I have the last chapter of "A Different Story" to present. And I plan on starting the first chapter of "A New Story" today. ;) Should be lots of fun.

Hopefully I'll have more time to write next term. I'll be taking one less class than I did winter term, so hopefully not as much homework.

Just a quick note here: later in the chapter there's a mention of the valuable nature of medicinal supplies. From my extensive research (I read an article in Archeology Today or something like that at the library), Blackbeard, while blockading Charleston harbor, demanded several chests of medical supplies as part of the city's ransom, and one of my books on pirates - not sure which one - said that when pirates looted ships, they'd almost always carry off whatever meds the ship had on hand, and sometimes even kidnapped doctors. So there's your history lesson for today. ;)

Until I post again, rythmteck (aka NeonDaisies, aka Sarah)

* * *

Jack lay on his back in his bed, one arm tucked underneath his head as he smiled with drowsy contentment at the ceiling. His other arm was curled around the woman at side. In her sleep Winn had refused to move away from him, throwing a bare arm across his equally bare torso, her head resting on his chest under his chin, and her other arm wrapped under and around his shoulder.

The sun, newly risen, made a feeble attempt to break through the fog outside. He could tell from the pitch and sway of the _Pearl_ that they were at anchor. A wise precaution in the shallow waters of the Caribbean, but unnecessary now. They were well and truly at sea, no islands around for days, no shoals to collide with. Still, Jack wasn't terribly surprised; the captain had abandoned his duties for the moment. Why shouldn't the crew follow his example? Grinning in his contentment, he thought, _Well, follow it as closely as they may._

Jack resisted getting out of bed. The fog kept them safe for the time being, just as it kept them at anchor. A ship could pass within firing range and never know about the pirates just out of sight as long as the men stayed silent, and he didn't want to disturb Winnie.

Or at least, he didn't want to disturb her in any way that might make her want to get out of bed. Though he'd forgotten how devilishly hard it was to disturb her in _any_ manner while she slept.

Not that he didn't try his hardest or that it was a trial. All that soft skin, bare and rash-free. Slowly he felt Winn wake up under his lips. At first she tensed as if unsure where she was. Her hands slid into his hair, holding him still as she tried to process what was happening. "Jack?" she asked, looking up at him as if she were confused. He could see memories of the past few hours return to her. With memory came a certain amount of security, and she pulled him back down.

"Mmm…" She sighed and ran her hands down his shoulders and back. "You woke me up."

"Noticed that, did you?"

"Would be hard not to." It was also difficult not to notice where his hands were wandering. "What are you doing?"

"And here I thought I'd found myself an intelligent wife."

"Jack?"

"Hm?"

"Shut it."

He really did have to congratulate himself on a job well done, Jack thought muzzily as Winn put to practice all she'd learned thus far. It was hardly conceivable that she'd been at all hesitant hours before. And then Jack didn't think of much at all beyond Winn's hands and sweetly eager mouth.

The fog had grown brighter but no thinner by the time Winn tucked herself into Jack's side along with enough blankets to cover her to the shoulders. She tried not to mind Jack's arrogant chuckle or the smile he pressed to her forehead along with a kiss. "If you had any sense, you'd cover yourself too," she mumbled against his shoulder. "It's cold."

"Cold might be a bit of an exaggeration, luv."

"Hmph." She rubbed her nose against his shoulder, still finding herself surprised by the feel of his skin against hers. "Not that I'm complaining, Jack, but why are you still here?"

"I'd think that was obvious."

_Not as obvious as it was._ Winn barely choked the risqué comment back. It had to be Jack's bad influence on her. Surely she wouldn't have come up with that on her own. "Jack –"

"The crew is superstitious." He interrupted her before she could get used to using that shrill tone that seemed to come naturally to wives…or at least to the ones he'd observed. Most of them fishwives, come to think of it. "They're not going to go anywhere in a fog like this. So no sailing –"

"– means no captain needed on deck." Winn sighed deeply. "I wonder when the fog will burn off."

Jack was puzzled. Winn wasn't acting like a woman tired of… Drat. What was the right term to use in conjunction with an almost properly raised wife? "So eager to leave the marriage bed?"

She snuggled in beside him, which was answer enough. "We can't possibly spend the entire day here. What would people think?"

Considering "people" consisted of his crew at the moment – and Jack had a fairly good idea of what they were thinking – he decided it was better not to answer. "What would you have us do then?" he asked, wondering what she would suggest. Besides being at a loss for terms that would imply he and Winn in bed while in a naked state, he didn't know what women like his wife did with their days either. He had a hard time envisioning Winn engaged in whatever activities proper ladies filled their time with. And here, no longer a prisoner and away from her family, what might she like to do?

The gears in his head started turning as he pondered his wife's nature. Winn wasn't an ordinary lady by far. Winnie carried a sword, and Winnie acted as her grandfather's man of business, and _Winnie_ set off on weeks long ocean voyages without so much as a by your leave…

"Winnie? Why were you on a ship with Thompson?"

"I thought we'd already confirmed my cowardice. Or did you really want to hear me say that I was running away from you?"

Hm. She sounded distinctly peevish. He really needed to keep in mind that Winn's satisfaction didn't necessarily outweigh her temper, otherwise his ego might take a bruising. "I assume you had some purpose in mind, some destination charted…? Or did you just shanghai Thompson into taking you on a quick pleasure jaunt around the Atlantic?"

"What makes you think I didn't?"

"Luv, as far as I can tell, the only thing you're frivolous with is your threats."

Winn relaxed a little. She supposed Jack was beyond the point of concealing his motives when it came to her…after all, being bound to her for life was a steep price for anything trivial. Still, it never paid to be too free with information. "Does it really matter, Jack?" Winn knew what she was really asking was, _How soon will you try to put a leash on me?_ but she didn't want to come right out and ask. Jack would either take offense or be brave enough to say something completely outrageous…or both. To be honest, it was taking all her courage to lay here in bed with him.

"Considering I've been playing catch up for the past two weeks, I think I've cause for my curiosity."

He had a point. And the worst he could do was decide she was silly. "I decided to try my hand at fortune hunting," she said in a rush.

Jack's first reaction was a rush of absurdity. Winn hadn't wanted a husband at all. Could a rich one really have made the situation easier to swallow? Then he grasped her true meaning: that dratted treasure map of her grandmother's. "You don't do things in half measures, do you?" he asked as he contemplated the devotion that would cause a man to sail all the way to Italy on a woman's whim.

"Jack?" He wasn't saying anything, but Winn could imagine what he _wanted_ to say. His arm was so tight around her. "It seemed like a good idea."

"Did it?" His full attention was on her now, his eyes sharp.

"Well…" Winn's thoughts raced as she tried not to squirm. It would certainly distract him – she thought – but she didn't necessarily want to distract him _that_ way. "No, I suppose I didn't. Actually, I think Grandmamma's crazy if she thinks a sorry excuse for a map can find a forgotten treasure, but it did seem like the best way to get as far from…" _You_ remained unsaid but Winn was certain Jack had heard it anyway. "Have I mentioned I was scared?" she asked in a small voice.

"I already knew you were, luv. I've known that for awhile now." Comforting his words might be, but Jack sounded distracted. "Just how sorry is this map of your grandmother's?"

Ah, well. That explained it then. One mention of treasure and the man got all dreamy eyed.

"How familiar are you with the Mediterranean?" Winn asked in return. She'd never heard of Jack being anywhere but the Caribbean, but he must have come from somewhere.

"Jack, where are you from?"

"Not from anywhere around the Mediterranean, but I'm familiar enough with it, why?"

"Never mind that. I want to know where you were born."

"Ship at sea, storm raging over head…haven't we been through all this?"

"No, actually. That bit is new. Still, I know when I'm being fed a load of blarney, Jack."

"No, the bit about being a royal bastard was blarney –"

"Shame. That's probably the only part that Ry would have believed."

Jack really did have to kiss her for that. Then he pulled away and continued. "Like I said, I might have been stretching the truth a little –" Winn snorted and Jack had to refrain from rolling atop her and giving her a good reason to use the smart mouth of hers. "My story, luv. I get to tell it however I wish. As I was saying, the part about the ship and the storm are God's own truth."

A good story, but not impossible Winn supposed. "Fine. Where was this ship?"

"On the sea."

Winn gave his thigh a good hard pinch and was gratified by the way he yelped and scooted away. He even left the blankets with her. She pulled them more closely about her and gave him a serene smile in return for his glare. "What were you saying about this ship, Jack?'

Never mind the bloody ship." Jack dove for the end of the bed, bypassing Winn's formidable grip at the top of the blankets. He wasn't about to let his strong-willed wife think that she had the upper hand in their marriage as all her female relations seemed to believe of theirs. There was only room for one captain on the _Pearl_ and his lovely little despot did not get to claim that title.

Once the moaning subsided – one sided moaning she couldn't help but notice – Winn did her best to glare at Jack. "That," she said as precisely as she could, "was unfair."

"Love and war," he reminded her. "Tell me more about this map."

Winn wanted to say bloody hell to the map and return Jack's favor in kind, if only to wipe that superior tone out of his voice, but she wasn't about to sink to his level.

…and didn't _that_ bring delicious thoughts to mind?

She slapped at the hand pulling back her covers. "If you're trying to find Italy, it'll get you there, far as I can tell," she snapped. " But beyond that you'd be in for quite a search."

"What about the writing in the margins?"

"My best guess is that it has something to do with Naples."

"You can't read Italian?"

"I can read Italian very well, thank you. Grandmamma copied that map from memory. And she too is literate, if that was going to be your next question, so the writing clearly wasn't _in_ Italian. Naples is the only clear word throughout the entire mess, which makes me think that the original map has helpful instructions in Neapolitan, which is nothing like Italian."

"But you decided to use it anyway."

"Twins run in our family, thanks to Grandmamma. She has a twin sister, presumably with some kind of family of her own. What I _decided_ to do was track down that side of the family and get a look at the original map if I couldn't gain the original itself."

"Mmm…devious plan."

"Thank you. Tell me about the place where you were born. Where were you raised? Are your parents still alive? Do you have any siblings? What –"

Jack kissed her just to shut her up, then jerked back in surprise when she bit at him. There was fury in her eyes, he noted as he tried to calm the hands that shoved at him without concern.

"Don't _do_ that," she demanded, angry with him because of his evasiveness. "I'm your wife, not a whore who's about to charge you for another hour, so stop trying to get your money's worth out of me."

"Winnie –"

"No. Don't you 'my dearest' me. I –"

" 'My dearest' you?" Jack repeated.

"That's what my sisters call that _way_ that men get when they think they can cajole a woman out of a perfectly valid reason to get upset."

"I wouldn't call your accusation just now perfectly valid."

Winn's eyes narrowed. "I won't be put off with kisses, Jack. I have every reason to be curious about you. About you, and your life before we met, and the way your mind works, and…and…" The bewildered look on his face didn't help her state of mind any. "Oh, never mind. Just leave me alone then." And Winn flopped over so that her back was to Jack.

"Winn –"

_-pwoh-_

_-pwoh-_

_-splash-_

_Splash?_ Winn propped herself up in bed, her anger forgotten for the moment as she tried to place the familiar sequence of noises.

Jack didn't have the memory problem that Winn did. He knew the sound of cannon fire falling short of its target and he wanted to get on deck before his crew started firing back. In this fog whoever was out there was firing aimlessly, hoping to find a target.

"Stay here," he ordered as he pulled on clothes so hastily discarded the evening before.

"Cannons," Winn murmured. Jack cursed under his breath as he saw the gears in Winn's head turning. "What did you do?" she asked, sounding dismayed. "Who did you rob to make the navy so determined to capture you?" She climbed out of bed – still wrapped in the covers – and reached for the trunks where her clothing was stored.

"The usual," Jack tried to dismiss. Winn was having none of it however. "A Spanish raider…a merchant or two…perhaps a convoy of French dignitaries…."

"Who went directly to the nearest fort and started screaming for your head," Winn muttered as she pulled a long chemise over her head. "God lord… Norrington won't stop until he has your head on a platter."

"What are you… Norrington?" Jack forgot about demanding that Winn stop dressing as he remembered the cozy image Winn in all her finery had made as she strolled down a garden path with the aforementioned commodore. "What's Norrington to do with this?"

The look she gave him as she pulled on her trousers eloquently expressed what she thought of his intelligence. "When you escaped the King's justice in Port Royal – not that they were carrying it out properly –"

"You have complaints about the height of the gallows?" Jack inquired sourly as he stuffed his feet into his boots.

"Just it's position. You were going to be hung inside the garrison. But you're a pirate, and subject to maritime rule. The Admiralty's dominion ends at the high tide mark. The proceedings wouldn't have exactly been legal, though they were willing to overlook that in favor of speed. It's not as if any one would have fussed about it then.

"_Anyway_, it's those same Lords of the Admiralty whose dominion you're flouting who are hounding Norrington to recapture you. The last thing he needs is for those 'French dignitaries' of yours to write London and lodge a formal complaint. After this, I'd be surprised if the commodore doesn't find himself called back to London to answer for his lack of success, probably at the cost of his career.

"So you tell me: What has Norrington to do with this?"

Jack just looked at Winn as she stood glaring at him, hands planted on her hips. What an astute little thing she was. "I know I'd chosen well," he murmured as he dropped a kiss on Winn's frowning mouth. Then he ordered her, "Stay here," before turning on his heel and leaving the cabin.

He nearly ran into Gibbs just over the threshold of the cabin. He looked at his mate oddly, and Gibbs shrugged. Already Winn was changing how the ship ran. No one wanted to walk in on the captain's lady – or worse, the captain _with_ his lady.

There was no time for Jack to question Gibbs's behavior. "Tell the men to raise anchor and drop canvas. _Quietly._ I want us gone before the _Dauntless_ puts a finger on us." Cannonballs had kept falling all the while as he and Winn had talked. Some had fallen further away, but now they were growing closer again.

"Aye," Gibbs agreed. Not a moment later a cannon fired, its report louder than ever. The _Black Pearl_ rocked, timbers splintered, and somewhere on deck Pige started howling. The sound rose through the fog, calling the next round of fire.

"All hands on deck!" Gibbs bellowed as Jack went after Winn's _mutt._ The animal's howls were abruptly cut off; Jack was unsurprised to find Winn there before him. Her hand was wrapped around the beast's muzzle. She glared at him, daring him to say anything about her pet. Another cannonball thudded into the side of the _Pearl_, drowning out the sound of raised footsteps and calls from the yards. "I thought I asked you to stay in the cabin," he commented, trying to keep a grip on his temper.

"Actually, it sounded suspiciously like an order."

"And we both know how well you respond to those." Jack blamed the situation for making him forget. "Will you please take that animal into the cabin and stay there? I don't have time to argue," he said when she opened her mouth. "Will you please just go?"

He sounded like a man pushed to his limits. Winn wondered why, but she knew that it concerned her. Suddenly it wasn't important for her to make a point by staying at his side.

Jack felt relief as Winn nodded and gathered her struggling pet into her arms. "Don't make me wait in there for too long." She hurried away under his narrowed gaze, wanting to make herself scared before he threatened to lock her in. She wanted the freedom to join him if it became necessary.

The first of the _Pearl's_ cannonade volleys rocked the ship. Jack made sure that Winn was safely out of sight before he returned his attention to his crew. Even with the sails fully dropped, the _Pearl's_ response was sluggish. The weather that had conspired to conceal them was now their enemy. There was barely enough wind to send the ship into motion.

Jack coaxed the _Pearl_ about, slowly bringing her into the wind. Both ships kept firing, both missing their targets more often than not to the _Pearl's _fortune. Gibbs seemed to be everywhere on deck, directing and/or threatening wherever needed. As a lucky shot sent splinters of the _Pearl's_ rail flying into the air it struck Jack that the mess of battle was more familiar to him than the prospect of facing Winn's questions had been. Then another volley of fire from both ships diverted his attention.

Slowly – painfully slowly – the _Black Pearl_ responded to her captain and crew. The momentum they fought for slowly accumulated until cannon blasts were once again followed by splashes. Soon, or perhaps longer than that since time was hard to gage in the unchanging glow of the fog, the muffled blasts of cannon stopped. Whether they'd outrun the other ship or they'd just give up didn't particularly matter. They were temporarily safe; the men immediately relaxed. Those who were whole helped the wounded to their feet or balanced unsteady steps. Jack turned the helm over to Cotton – as miraculously as always the old man had escaped without so much as a scratch to him or his bird – and went to do his share of doctoring.

Or at least he would have if Winn hadn't appeared in the doors of his…their…cabin, a thunderous look on her face. "Stop right there," she growled in such a commanding tone that every man on deck froze in his steps. She raked them all over with a stern glare as she pronounced, "_I'll_ see the wounded one a time…_without_ argument," she added, her eye on Jack. "Those worse off first, if you please. You unharmed ones can make yourselves useful by hauling water." She grabbed the nearest sailor, a man with a bloody sleeve, and hauled him into the cabin after her.

The rest of the men all stayed where they were, staring after her. Then – as if they shared a single brain between them – they all turned to look at Jack. He shrugged as if to say, _I married the wench, didn't I? What more do you want from me?_ They all looked at each other then before turning their heads back towards the still open doors.

"Well, go on," Jack encouraged, not about to step into the lion's den himself. "I wouldn't make her come out after patients if I were you." The man standing next to him actually shuddered.

"I'm still waiting for water," came the ominous comment from inside the cabin. Those who were wounded found themselves without support as any man who was able headed below deck. Jack hoped at least one of them was going after water and not just getting out of the line of fire.

"Awful quiet in there," one man observed under his breath. "Think she's kilt Big Tom?"

Someone shoved a bucket of water at Jack. He grabbed it awkwardly, water sloshing all over his pants and into his boots. He looked around; it was clear that no man on deck was going to set foot in that cabin before he did.

_Pirates_, Jack thought, rather disgusted with his crew. Still, what other option did he have but to follow his own advice? Making Winn come out in search of what she needed still seemed like a bad idea.

As unobtrusively as he could, Jack entered the cabin, though he might as well saved himself the trouble. Winn looked up immediate from the needle she was threading.

"You asked for water," Jack reminded her when she frowned at him.

"I _know _I asked for water." She still looked unhappy. "I suppose hot water was too much to ask for." Without another word she took way the bottle of rum Big Tom was nursing – thus the reason for his silence – and splashed some over the slice in the man's shoulder.

After the caterwauling had quieted, Winn started in the with needle and thread. Too late Jack remembered the patches she'd mangled when she'd been set to mending sails during her last…visit. Poor Tom probably would have faired better if they'd' just let the injury heal naturally.

Contrary to his expectations, Winn's stitches were quick and neat. She worked steadily, quickly, until she was done. From the open trunk at her feet she pulled a clean piece of cloth. She dunked it in Jack's bucket then frowned at him again. This time she held still long enough for Jack to see the concern in her eyes and on her face.

"You can put the bucket down," she murmured as her eyes ran over his cheek. "I don't expect you to stand there and hold it." She raised the dripping cloth in her hand and brushed it over his face. He was surprised to see that it came away smeared with pink.

Jack identified the source of her irritation then: she'd been worried about him.

"Didn't I tell you not to worry, luv?"

"No. You must have overlooked that part in the midst of throwing out orders." A good part of the anxiety on her face was replaced by annoyance. "We're going to have a talk about that later, Jack."

A loud shuffle behind them made the couple turn. Bug Tom had risen from his seat and looked as if he were going to bold. Winn's brows snapped down and her hands crossed over her chest. "Where do you think you're going?" she demanded. "Sit down."

Tom sort of collapsed, as if unwilling to take his chances in a break from the door. Jack grinned as he set the bucket of water down. Big Tom was easily seven feet tall and probably weighed three times as much as Winn. At the least. And his behavior answered a concern that Jack hadn't even thought of yet. Despite the fact that Winn had been a prisoner on her last stay, his crew – or at least Tom – was willing to listen to her.

Winn finished with Tom, saw him to the door, then summoned her next patient. Jack couldn't help but be amused to see his fearsome pirate band following meekly after his less than statuesque wife. Though as she threatened, washed and tended, he wondered where her stockpile of salves and oils had come from. They certainly weren't his, and she was dispensing them as if a fortune couldn't be made from them in port.

"Where'd all that come from?" he asked as Winn ushered the last of his men out the door.

"What do you mean?" Winn asked, confused by the question. A lady knew how to tend those under her care, even if she normally had someone else around to do it for her. Then Jack gestured towards the chest, and she was still confused. "They're yours." Now Jack looked puzzled. "Alright, so they're only very recently yours, but I didn't think you'd mind…" His baffled expression didn't lift. "It's part of my dowry." Now the confusion was lifting. "There ought to be a few more chests around here somewhere with more of the like. Didn't you look through any of them?"

Rather than admit that he'd avoided anything that'd had to do with her, Jack asked, "Where's the mutt?"

Her mouth pursed s if she were about to confront him about his evasiveness, but she didn't start in on it. Rather, she pointed towards the end of the bed as she reaching into her trunk of supplies again. Jack looked. Pige was tied to the end of the bed with what appeared to be stocking. The dog's eyes met his rather pitifully and her tail stirred into a dispirited wag, as if she had no real hope of being released.

A hand on his face distracted him, Winn was back, a clean, wet cloth in her hand. She gently wiped away the blood on his cheek. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"If I say no are you going to start yelling at me for ordering you about?"

She scooped some sharp-scented glop out of the pot in her hand and smoothed it over the cut. It stung at first, then eased into a warm tingle. Or maybe that was just because he liked it when she touched him.

Her eyebrows were lowered as she thought about his question, though her mouth didn't firm up the way it did when she was angry. "I do have enough sense to come in out of the rain, Jack. I've been in skirmishes before…and I know that my presence on deck is usually more of a distraction than a help. But I wasn't about to wait about in…in bed. Not being dressed would just be asking fate to allow us to be boarded. I fight much better while clothed."

Well, wasn't this a sticky conversation? Jack reached up and pulled Winn's fingers away from his face; he needed to be able to think clearly. "Actually, luv, you shouldn't be fighting at all. Clothed or otherwise."

She scowled at him, but there was no heat in it. "If we're boarded by pirates, then I most definitely should be able to fight. And if we'd been boarded just now, I don't think anyone would have stopped to inquire whether I'm a pirate or a prisoner before taking steps to…subdue me. I _want_ be able to defend myself if I need to, Jack."

Preferring to ignore the fact that she had a point, Jack said, "I've seen you with a sword in your hand, luv. You'd have a better chance of falling on one than defending yourself. I don't even want to think about what damage you could do with a pistol in your hand –"

"You say this to me after last night?" Winn's eyes immediately went wide in shock and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

Jack's mouth split open into a wide grin and he couldn't help but stroke her burning cheek. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a woman blush after delivering a sexual innuendo. Personally, he was finding modesty endearing.

"What I meant to say," she mumbled from underneath a hand that seemed to be guarding her tongue, "is that my marksmanship is better than my swordmanship."

"I think I prefer it when you say when you don't mean to say." Jack gently pried her hand down and kissed the mouth that mortified her so. "Now, about this treasure map of yours…" Winn jerked away and glared at him resentfully. "Hear me out, luv. I think a little travel is exactly what this crew needs. A little time away…just until hot waters cool, of course ­–"

"No. Absolutely not!" Winn pulled away and started pacing. From the foot of the bed Pige whimpered and Winn went over to untie her. The ruined stocking floated Jack's way, which only irritated Winn more. The foolish man hadn't died today so he decided to go rushing towards the nations' strongholds?

She spun on her heel and pointed at Jack. Her mouth opened to let out an angry tirade…then closed again when she saw Jack was staring at her warily. As if he thought she was going to hit him. What other option did she have but to calm down and try to string her words together in a way that made sense?

At least Jack had the good judgment to keep his mouth shut and wait for her.

"We confirmed that the English navy wants your head, did we not?"

Jack hesitated before answering. The way she asked that made it sound as if she were asking a trick question. "Yes?"

"And you said that you just robbed a ship carrying French diplomats?"

" 'Robbed' is such a strong word…"

"_Robbed,"_ she emphasized. "And then there's the Spanish –"

"What about the Spanish?" Jack asked, starting to feel more than a little affronted.

"Grandfather does business in Havana. You had everyone there riled up a few months ago."

"Ahh…right. The Spanish," Jack processed as he remembered exactly what he might have done recently to get on the bad side of the Spanish crown. "Honestly, do you expect me to remember everyone I've…riled…Winnie?"

"No. That would be a Herculean task. However, if you could remember the nationalities you might understand why I find the prospect of you crossing English trading routes to skirt the tip of Spain to enter the Mediterranean where there's a brisk French trade a little daunting."

Jack had to concentrate to keep track of the salient points. English, Spaniards, French... At least she hadn't remembered Barbary pirates. Though pirates were pirates, so he ought to be able to handle them.

And of course, Winn didn't _really_ have a say in matters…

No. He ought to be ashamed of himself… But then, Winn reacted to strongly. She clearly hadn't taken the time to think matters through. The _Pearl_ was far more notorious in the Caribbean where it'd been hunting for the last then years than it would be in the north. He had enough flags in a trunk here in the cabin to make him an ally of everyone she'd mentioned and quite a few others besides. Along with a decent plan and a bit of good timing…

It wouldn't be nearly as foolhardy as Winn imagined.

She just needed time to think it all through. It'd take at least another ten days to complete the crossing. A quick stop in São Jorge in the Azores to get information from the locals about naval activity…resupply…

Winn was surprised when Jack's attention focused on her suddenly. There was a smile on his face that she didn't entirely trust. "Are you sure I can't convince you to run away with me, luv? I imagine I'm not the only one who might need to wait for the waters to cool. Your family wasn't too happy with you when I left."

"Then all I have to do is show up with you in tow, Jack. Come to think of it, Osprey Point is even a safe place to wait for all the trouble you've caused to blow over."

Jack tried not to shudder. She meant well, but he'd spent enough time on land to last him for a long while. The same went for time spent with her family. Not that he was about to tell her that. There was no point in upsetting her before he absolutely had to.

And she was going to be upset when she found out they were going to Italy despite her protests.

"I'm sure you're right, luv." Jack pulled her in, nuzzling the skin behind her ear before she could demand a promise of some kind out of him; it was in her eyes to do it. There was difference between just not telling the all of the truth and breaking a promise. "Now, why don't we go find a bite to eat?" As she capitulated, he tried to convince himself that once she saw reason she couldn't possibly stay mad.

Now…if only he could devise a good reason for all this, he'd have no worries at all. He had ten days. He could come up with something good.

He was Captain Jack Sparrow.

Unfortunately for Jack, he didn't figure _Mrs._ Captain Jack Sparrow into his equations.


End file.
